Accepting the truth
by phoenixgirl26
Summary: After the defeat of Voldemort, a letter appears out of nowhere that will shock Harry Potter to the core. Warning: strong language, gay relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Warning: Detailed sex scenes.

Chapter one

It was the day after the death of Voldemort along with a lot of his death eaters, not all the death eaters were killed or captures, some escaped. The people that did fight in the battle of Hogwarts either went home when it finished or stayed in the castle. The ones that lost loved ones stayed until arrangements could be made. So the castle even though destroyed was still full of people, some cheerful, some just glad it was all over, others looking lost and alone. Some of the staff had started to repair the great hall, mainly fixed the doors and the walls, they knew they needed more time to make it weather proof, for now they just needed it fixed enough so everyone could eat.

There were students that professor McGonagall was helping as their parents had been killed in the fighting. Some parents yelled at her for allowing the students to fight with the adults, that's when Harry stepped beside her.

'They chose to fight, professor McGonagall gave every one of age the choice to stay or leave, some left, some wanted to do the right thing, so they stayed.'

After a few apologetic looks, no one said a thing after that to Minerva McGonagall. No one was stupid enough to have a go at their hero of the battle, who willingly sacrificed himself to bring an end to all their suffering, their hero and their saviour.

'Thank you Harry, still very gallant of you, but U can speak for myself you know,' she gave Harry a smile.

'I know you can professor, but you have enough to deal with right now. You do not need grieving parents having a go at you for something that was not your fault. I didn't want anyone to stay and fight, you know that, but like you, I had no say, they were going to do it anyway.'

'Yes, they were, but I think everyone realised it was now or never. We all knew this fight was coming Harry, we just didn't know when. Albus said that to me not long before he died.'

'He said the same to me professor. I need to ask you something, I was hoping that you would allow me to stay here and help with the repairs to the castle and grounds. I love this place, always have and I hate seeing all the damage. I never wanted to bring this upon the school.'

'I know you didn't, but if you think about it, it wasn't you, it was Voldemort that brought that about. Now as for what you asked, you can if you wish, but I would have thought you would want to have some peace and quiet after everything.'

'Even working here it'll still be quiet after the last few years. My mind isn't ready to process the fact that it's over, that he really is gone. So I'm still on edge at the moment, too much is going through my mind, it doesn't want to close down just yet.'

'Yes, I think for a lot of people it will be like that, they won't believe or realise it is truly over until they see our world moving on into a peaceful world where there is no more war.'

'I definitely understand that, but you look tired professor.'

'I am, but there is still too much to do before I can rest, I will later Harry. I have to work some details out with Kingsley regarding the students that lost their parents.'

'Please tell me they won't have to go to any muggle relative or muggle orphanage.'

'Until I speak with Kingsley, I'm not sure what is going to happen. But if they did go to muggle relatives, at least they are with family.'

Harry snorted, 'Sometimes that's worse than living on the street. I would have preferred to live in the shrieking shake or the forbidden forest than put up with what I had to,' Harry took a calming breath because he realised he didn't have to go back there again, he never had to see them, 'Anyway, have you seen Hermione or Ron anywhere?'

'No, not for a while, but not so fast Harry, tell me what you mean by that?'

'It's nothing, they just didn't treat me very well. I have to go find Ron and Hermione, talk to you later professor,' and before Minerva could say any more, Harry walked away.

Harry looked around, it took a while, but he did find his friends, 'Hey, been looking for you two.'

'I've been trying to help dad, he can't get mum to move so we can take…Fred,' Ron never finished his sentence, 'You should get your bag ready to go.'

'I'm not going to the Burrow Ron, I'm staying here to help with the repairs. I just spoke with McGonagall about that.'

'Don't you want to rest a while Harry?'

'I'll rest here Hermione, but I need to be here, let me explain,' Harry ran his fingers through his hair, 'See, you know I love this place and that I called it my first real home, but everything to do with Voldemort, all he did to me, most of that either happened here or was connected to here. I don't want that to affect my feelings for the place. So while I'm here I'm going to go to all the places I had anything to do with him, starting with the forbidden forest. My mind won't let me process the fact that's he's finally gone and I keep thinking about when he might try to kill me next. It's hard to live with that, so I need to get my mind and heart to start believing it.'

'I understand Harry and I don't know how you've been handling that for so long, I don't think I could have,' Hermione hugged Harry, 'We'll visit and you will, won't you? I don't think I could go to long without seeing you?'

'I feel the same Hermione, you have been with me from the beginning,' Harry turned to Ron, 'Just like you and all those months away with just the three of us. It's going to seem strange not being together, but also, you two need some time alone, you just got together after all the years you've liked each other, so now is the time to get to know one another as a couple and not as friends.'

'Thanks mate, but we still want to spend time with you too.'

'You will Ron, but we can at least take our time now. Another thing, but please don't tell your mum this, but I love your mum, you know that, but I also know she will try and treat me or us like kids and I couldn't handle that anymore. I like doing what I want and when I want.'

'I get that Harry, yeah, that's how mum will be, especially now. I should get back to dad though.'

Harry hugged Ron, 'Let me know when the funeral is.'

'I will.'

'See you in a few days Harry,' Hermione hugged Harry as well.

'Yep, I'll be there and since there's no enchantments, you can come visit anytime,' Harry watched as his two best friends left, then headed outside into the sunlit grounds, 'Yes, I still love this place and I don't want memories of Voldemort to spoil that for me.'

'Why would he do that Harry, especially now he's gone?'

'Hello again professor, didn't see you,' Harry faced McGonagall, 'Everything that has happened to me over the years, all the pain he put me through, most happened here or is connected to here, so I don't want that to be my memory of this place when I do finally leave. I want to leave with a peaceful feeling when I think of this place.'

'I understand Harry, but I came to find you to tell you that I found a memory in the pensieve. Hermione and Ron told me that Severus gave it to you before he died, but they could not tell me what it contained. I took it out and it's in my office whenever you want to get it.'

'Thanks, as to what it contains, first, why didn't you or Dumbledore ever tell me my mother was good friends with Snape?'

'Mainly because of the way he treated you Harry. I could never work out why he did that though.'

'He was in love with her and she married my father, I look like my father.'

'Oh now that makes sense, a lot of sense. If I knew that or anything else I would have told you. I know you wanted information on your parents, but they were private people, even at order meetings, they only discussed business, never anything personal. I can tell you this though, they did bring you a few times to meetings and I got to hold you as a baby.'

Harry chuckled, 'Not something I was expecting to hear professor. But about the memory, you heard me tell Voldemort his horcruxes were gone, right?'

'Yes, I heard and I do know what a horcrux is Harry,' Minerva's voice went hard, 'You said horcruxes, as in plural, so how many did he make?'

'Seven, but in the memory Dumbledore was telling Snape about the sixth one, the snake was the seventh, I only knew of six before I saw that. Dumbledore told Snape so he could tell me at the right time, but he never got the chance. So here it is professor, why he thought I was dead, and I wasn't. Why I saw Mr. Weasley get attacked that time, why I can speak parseltongue, why I knew he was going to turn up last night, have you worked it out yet professor?'

Minerva McGonagall couldn't hide her shock, then she looked sadly at Harry, she put her hand on his shoulder.

'You were the sixth and it must have happened when he killed your parents, when he tried to kill you.'

'Got it first go professor, he had been part of me for seventeen years. First it made me sick thinking about him being part of me, that was after the shock wore off, now I'm just angry. What if because of that I could turn out like him, or evil in any sense?'

'Harry one thing I do know about you is you have a very kind and loving nature. Look what you did in the room of requirement. Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle went in there to stop you, but when they set the fiend fyre you saved Mr. Malfoy, you're friends saved Mr. Goyle. That is not an act of an evil, dark or bad person, that is the act of a good person, that just happened to have bad or evil things have happened to.'

Harry chuckled at the memory his professor just brought back, 'Sirius said something very similar to me last time I was at Grimmauld Place with him. You're not a bad person Harry, you're a good person that bad things have happened to.'

'It is true, I would not lie to you, you are a very good person, kind, caring and protective, you even protected an old professor,' she smiled.

'I normally wouldn't say this, but after everything all of us have been through, I think people should say what they feel in case they never get the chance. You will find professor that I will do anything for you, all you'd have to do is ask. Dumbledore might have been the one I spoke to, who showed me everything, guided me, taught me what I needed to defeat Voldemort. But you were always there in the background and I just knew if I needed something, help in any way, you would, without hesitation. Like when I turned up, you instantly got things moving, even though you knew there was a chance you could die, or people you cared about could die. That showed me I was right, you would be there if I need it and you trusted me, without any hesitation.'

'Yes that's very true, because I do care for you, but you amaze me with your insight, you can read people very well, you will make an excellent auror one day Harry. Everything you have been through, you can still use that good heart of yours in the right way, proves how good you are.'

Harry smiled up at his old professor, 'Thanks and I do still want to be an auror, but not for a while. After the last seven years, I just want to do nothing in regards to dark witches and wizards, I've had enough of that, at least for a while. But I did want to ask you something, in regards to staying here for a while. Do you know if anyone else wants to stay and help?'

'I've had a couple of students ask if they could stay, some because they have nowhere to go, others like you, want to help.'

'It's just that unless it's Neville, Seamus or Dean, I was hoping to stay in my dorm room alone. My nightmares, as I'm sure you remember how bad they get, they might return. I'm hoping now he's gone, they won't, but I'm not counting on it. Neville and the others are used to them, well, they had no choice as we shared a room for so long.'

'That should not be a problem, but if you do have them, go see Madame Pomfrey, she will help with that.'

'I know she can, but I really don't want to get dependant on potions. If they get too bad I will, but I'm hoping my mind will realise it's over and just let me sleep. One more thing though, you said my parents were private, so they never spoke about anything. Because the few memories I have seen and things Sirius and Remus told me, that just doesn't sound like them.'

'I don't know what to tell you Harry, unless they were more private at meetings. We knew we had a leak somewhere, maybe that's all it was. They didn't want to say anything personal in case it was reported back to Voldemort and it could have been something he could use.'

'Sounds plausible professor, I just wish I knew. Anyway, I should let you go, I'm sure you have a lot to do. Can you let me know when you're starting the repairs?'

'I will, now rest and if you want to eat, you know the way to the kitchens and of course your house elf is still here.'

'I will, but I'm fine at the moment. I'm just enjoying the peace and quiet.'

'You deserve it Harry, I'll see you later,' Minerva patted Harry on the shoulder then walked back into the castle.

Harry walked slowly towards the forbidden forest and stared at all the trees. He knew he wanted to confront everything to do with Voldemort, but not yet, he wanted some time to himself, something he really never had before.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Harry turned away from the forbidden forest and spotted Hagrid walking around his hut, so he made his way over to his large friend.

'Hagrid, is everything okay?'

'Harry, um yeah, just trying to work out how to fix me house.'

Harry stared at him for a moment, 'Give me a minute,' Harry pulled his wand and summoned his old pouch from the castle. A minute later it flew into Harry's hands, so he rummaged around inside and pulled out a wand, then handed it to Hagrid, 'Use this Hagrid, at least it's not broken and if you don't remember the spells, I can show you if you want.'

'But they snapped me wand Harry.'

'You were cleared of that Hagrid, so you can have one now. So use this until you get another one. I don't need it, I won it off someone.'

Hagrid smiled then took the wand, he put his old umbrella down then looked sheepishly at Harry.

'I don't remember the spells.'

'I'll remind you and then give you a hand. We'll get your house fixed up in no time. It can't be Hogwarts without Hagrid's hut.'

'Thanks Harry.'

Harry went about showing Hagrid the different spells that would repair his house. Then they both stood together over the next couple of hours putting the hut back to the way it was. When they were done, Harry saw large tears falling down his friends face, so he patted his arm.

'Go organise your house Hagrid, I'll visit again soon, 'Harry went to turn but Hagrid grabbed him in a hug, 'It's fine Hagrid, you're my friend,' Harry could see how emotional Hagrid was, so he gave him a smile and walked away.

Harry walked slowly back to the castle and thought he really should eat, even if he didn't feel like sitting alone in the common room, so he headed into the great hall and sat down at his old table.

'Kreacher,' Harry called and within a few seconds the old elf appeared, Harry gave him a smile, 'Hello Kreacher.'

'It is good to see master Harry is well. Do you wish something from Kreacher?'

'Yeah, I'm a bit hungry, could you get me something to eat and some tea would be nice.'

'I will return very fast master,' the elf bowed, snapped his fingers and disapparated.

'What's with the house elf Harry?' Neville asked as he sat down opposite.

'Hey Neville, that's mine that Sirius left me. I'm not too keen on owning them, but Kreacher is very old, so I usually leave him here to help and he seems to like being with the other house elves.'

Kreacher appeared beside Harry, 'Here's your food master Harry, your favourites and some nice hot tea. I made it special as Kreacher belongs to the house of Potter.'

'I know Kreacher and thanks. Could you always make my food while I'm here, I've gotten a little paranoid lately?'

'Of course master Harry, Kreacher will be the only elf to cook for my master.'

'Okay, thanks, you can go back to the kitchens now,' Harry smiled then started eating.

'Are you really paranoid about your food?'

'Yean, I don't know why, especially since he's gone. I just keep getting these flashes of Mad-Eye saying constant vigilance, so I'm taking a leap out of his book.'

'Well after all the times he tried to kill or capture you, I don't blame you Harry. So are you heading to the Burrow with Ron?'

'No, I'm hanging around here to help repair this place. What about you, heading home with your gran?'

'For now, but over the last few months, I've found I liked being able to do what I want. So I'm going to get my own place, well after I find work that is.'

'I get you there Neville. I said that to Ron, knowing if I went to the Burrow Mrs. Weasley would keep treating me as a kid, I'm way past that. So I'll stay here, then buy a place when I'm ready to leave.'

'Can I ask you something Harry?'

'Anything Neville.'

'I'm a little confused, but you told me the snake had to die, I just don't know why.'

'Oh, um, when I was talking to Voldemort in here, did you hear me say horcruxes?'

'Yeah, didn't know what you were talking about though and I noticed everyone else looked just as confused as I did.'

'It's not widely knows, but a horcrux is a thing you put a piece of your soul into so you cannot die. The snake was one, but that's what we turned up to find and what we were doing when we were away, looking for his horcruxes and destroying them. That's the job Dumbledore gave me before he died.'

'Wow, I never realised it was so important. I'm glad you never told me before. So you must have got them all since he did die.'

'Yep, between me, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione and you, oh Crabbe as well, he set fiend fyre that destroyed one, so there all gone, thank merlin.'

'So he made six, blimey he really didn't want to die, did he Harry?'

'No he didn't,' Harry didn't want to elaborate about how many there really was.

'But I need to know one more thing Harry. When you told me the snake had to die, I asked you if you were going to give yourself up to him, you said you weren't, but you did. So I need to know why you lied to me. Normally I know you wouldn't unless you either couldn't say because you promised someone or it was dangerous.'

Harry sighed and took a drink of his tea, 'Okay, I'll tell you but can you keep it to yourself Neville? Apart from Ron and Hermione, I don't want it known.'

'You know I will, you have my word.'

'Okay, there was another horcrux that no one knew about. Not me, or Voldemort, but I found out right before I saw you. So while he still had one out there, he couldn't die, right?'

'Right, I got that bit.'

'Well, I was one Neville, he made me one by accident when I was a baby. So I had to die so he could. That's why I lied and why I surrendered to him, it's also the reason why you were able to break through that curse when he had the sorting hat on you. Because I walked up to him, never fought and let him kill me, it gave all of you a protection, but it also destroyed the horcrux inside me when he hit me with the killing curse. I never knew I would survive, I thought I would die when I went in there and that's another reason I never told anyone, not even Ron and Hermione, well, until after. I didn't want anyone trying to talk me out of it, trying to say we'd find another way. I knew there was no other way, Dumbledore explained all that to me before he died.'

Neville stared at Harry in stunned silence, 'You let him kill you, you never fought Harry?'

'No, it was bloody hard, not just that I'm used to fighting, but thinking of all of my friends, knowing they would be upset when I was gone. But to me, no matter how scared I was, I knew I had no choice and was willing to do anything so our world could be safe,' Harry could see Neville was upset, 'I'm sorry I lied to you Neville, but you said it to me, we're going to keep fighting. There wouldn't have been any use if I lived and everyone on our side could have died. I wasn't going to let any more die, not if I could do something to stop it.'

'Blimey Harry, it's fine, I get it now. But how did you do that, find the courage to do that?'

'I was thinking about my parents, Sirius and Remus, everyone else that died as well. They died and I knew I could stop more dying, so I spoke to them as I walked,' Harry knew he could never tell Neville or anyone the truth, but he wasn't really lying this time.

'I know I've got my parents Harry, even if they can't talk to me. But you never had anyone and you were still willing to do that. Do you think it made it easier, knowing you didn't have family? Yeah, you have friends, but that's different to a family.'

'It did make it easier, I didn't have to make them go through what the Weasley's are right now. Since they were already gone, I know all of you would have been upset and missed me, but it is different. Hermione modified her parent's memories and sent them away for their safety and if she died, well she knew they were happy and didn't know they had a daughter. Ron used the old ghoul, dressed him up and gave him what looked like spattergroit which kept his family safe. I never had to worry about that and I know it made me a bit reckless at times, not having to think or worry that there was someone home waiting for me.'

'Yeah, when the Carrows realised I was causing them problems, they went after gran, so I had to be careful after that even if gran can take care of herself, I still had to think about her. I get it Harry, I'm just glad you survived. I think all your friends are, not just that you ended it but I think we'd miss having Harry Potter to inspire us.'

'I never wanted that Neville, but I heard and saw what you, Luna, Seamus and everyone else did while I was away and if I inspired that in any way, then I'm proud of all of you. Everyone that was left here had to deal with their own hardship and suffering, but you never quit, just like Hermione, Ron and I wouldn't quit. But it's over, we can all finally have normal lives for a change.'

'Yes we can Harry, and I for one am not going to waste it anymore. So I might go find Hannah and tell her I want to take her out on a date,' Neville stood up, patted Harry's hand then walked away.

Harry smiled as he watched his friend leave the great hall and he got a good feeling about Neville. He knew he had changed over the years, but now he was such a confident young man and Harry knew he was part of that change, which made Harry feel good about himself.

Harry finished eating, drank the last of his tea and was just about to get up and leave the great hall when McGonagall walked up to him and Harry noticed instantly she looked worried.

'What's wrong professor?'

'I'm not quite sure Harry. When I went up to my office I found an envelope on my desk with Albus' writing. It wasn't there earlier and I have never seen it before either.'

'Do you know who put it there?'

'Yes, Albus did, he had this letter charmed to appear after Voldemort died. So I read it and he wants all the ones we really trust to meet here in two weeks' time.'

'What else did he say?'

'Only that he had some things to explain that he couldn't tell anyone before, especially you.'

'Do you think another letter will arrive with that explanation?'

'Yes, so he must have these magically seals and was just waiting until Voldemort died before it activated. I went to ask his portrait, but he was not there and knowing Albus, he won't return until after that meeting in two weeks.'

'No I don't think he will either. Damn, I hope it's not more bad news, I'm just starting to relax.'

'I don't think it will be Harry, or Albus would have warned me. I think why he asked for two weeks is so we can get through the funerals. Like Fred's because all the Weasley's will need to be here for this meeting, then Remus and Nymphadora's funeral will be after Fred's.'

'Yeah, makes sense, but if he does turn up in his portrait, try and find out. I really don't need anything else to happen. I don't think I could take anymore.'

'I will Harry, but try not to worry, I'm sure it's just something he never told you or why he never told you about the horcrux. So try and relax and put it out of your mind for now.'

'Easier said than done, but I'll try professor,' Harry said as she walked away and his thoughts just kept wondering what else Dumbledore had in store for him. So he ended up back outside in the ground, but this time he sat in his spot that he used to sit at after Sirius died and just kept going over what Dumbledore said to Snape in the memory, but nothing came to him. Then he started to think about all their conversations, but still nothing came to him. So he figured he should do what McGonagall suggested and put it out of his mind and relax. So he stayed sitting there staring out over the sunlit water, watching the water ripple in the light breeze and it did help him relax. So he stayed there for the rest of the day, just enjoying doing nothing for the first time in years.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Over the next few days, Harry never did much of anything except walk around the school, sit by the lake and sometimes he would pick up a book and take it to the library, then he would find all sorts of things and started to return them to their rooms, if they were still standing. If he found something that belonged in a room that had been destroyed, he stored them in one of the classrooms then he let McGonagall know.

Today Harry was heading into Diagon Alley and muggle London to buy some clothes. It will be the first time Harry could buy things for himself and he was looking forward to it. Kingsley had sent an owl stating that he had spoken to the goblins on Harry's behave and explained the situation about why the three friends had to break in. After a lot of arguing, they finally relented and was letting Harry and his friends back in, so he could finally go to his vault, but they did say he would be watched at all times, Harry didn't care, as he knew what he did with help from his friends had brought an end to a war that had been going on for so long.

So Harry apparated to the Leaky Cauldron and the place fell silent the moment he appeared, then his name started being mentioned or people would call out to him. Harry just gave everyone a smile before heading to the back and through into Diagon Alley and up to Gringotts. The two goblins at the door didn't look happy, even though they never did, but they did allow Harry to enter, so he went straight over to a counter.

'Mr. Potter, I hope the minister explained that you will be escorted and watched whenever you are inside Gringotts.'

'Yep, he explained, so do what you have to. But I need to see both my vaults and could I have a list of everything they both contain?'

The goblin stared at Harry for a minute, then produced two thick rolls of parchment and handed them to Harry.

'As you are now of age, you will need to rename the Black family vault to Potter. We haven't seen you before now to organise that. So as there is already a Potter family vault, what do you wish the other vault to be called?'

'Oh, okay,' Harry stared at the parchment in his hand, 'Why not just the Potter vault?'

'If that is what you wish, then that's what it will be called,' the goblin wrote something on another piece of parchment then vanished it, 'As you will see, it has been changed to the Potter vault.'

'Great, can I go to them now?'

'Yes Mr. Potter,' another goblin walked over and led Harry down into one of the carts, then a very fast ride down through the labyrinth of tunnels until he came to his parents vault. Harry handed the goblin his key then stepped inside. He grabbed a heap of gold, silver and bronze, stuffing it inside his pouch then got back into the care. The goblin relocked it, handed Harry his key before they were off again. Harry was a bit apprehensive about Sirius' vault. He had heard from Dumbledore and Remus that the Black family were pretty wealthy, so he wasn't sure what he was going to see. So the moment the goblin opened the door, Harry stopped dead as he stared into the huge cavern filled with gold, silver and bronze, not to mention lots of silver goblets, plates and heaps of other stuff lining the walls. There were gold bars and jewellery boxes, other boxes with parchment in them. He spotted some sort of sword and shields and thought they might be Black family crest on them. He knew he didn't need anything from in here, but he had been putting off seeing this vault, so now it's done, he could leave and that's what he did. When he got back into the main part of Gringotts, he changed half his money to muggle pounds, then headed for the doors. The moment they opened, he spotted a huge crowd along with reporters, all shouted questions at him.

Harry sighed, 'I really don't have time at the moment, I'll work something out then I'll answer some questions.'

'Harry, why did it take you so long to surrender to you know who?'

Harry heard the unmistakable voice of Rita Skeeter, he turned and smiled, 'I was hoping I'd see you Skeeter. I wanted to ask you something for a change. First, did you kill Bathilda Bagshot when you stole from her and charmed her to reveal things she wouldn't normally do? You see I have to speak with the minister about when I found her body and I need to tell him what I found. Why did you lie in your book Skeeter? Got nothing interesting to write about when it's the truth. Sounds like you have a pretty boring life and really, I can't blame you, since I know for a fact you have no real friends in the magical world and just so everyone here knows, we have never been friends. I happen to have lots of friends and all of them were fighting at Hogwarts, so where were you Skeeter, hiding in your rat hole. Oh and another thing, I was going to tell the minister about an old muggle band called the Beatles, have you ever heard of them Skeeter?' Harry grinned as she turned red and hurried away, then questions from other reporters started, 'Just so you know that stuff in her book about Albus Dumbledore's sister was all bullshit. She was no squib, Albus and Kendra never locked her up, the truth was she was attacked as a child by muggles when they saw her doing magic and was never right again. She had problems, her magic would just explode from her, that is the reason she never went to Hogwarts and why Albus Dumbledore's father went after those muggles and ended up in Azkaban. I think any parent would do the same after their child was attacked.'

'What about her allegations about you and Dumbledore Harry, care to comment on that?'

'How she insinuated that we had a special relationship, meaning she thought we were in a gay relationship. No, he was my mentor, my friend and was helping me so I would be ready to face Voldemort. Albus Dumbledore was gay and he never hid that fact,' Harry thought for a minute, 'The only thing we ever did when we were alone was talk, all about Voldemort and how to kill him. But I will say this and I only worked it out a few months ago, I'm gay, but nothing happened between Dumbledore and me. I looked at him as a father figure and he thought of me as a son, he told me that once. But now I have to go, I really have a lot to do,' Harry gave everyone a smile and he got smiles back or patted on the back. He got through the Leaky Cauldron and down into London to different men's clothing stores. He bought a heap of jeans as they were his favourite, but nice pants as well. He got shirts, jumpers, socks and undies before he bought some nice shoes, runner type shoes and some boots. Once he was weighed down with packages, Harry headed back to Hogwarts.

Harry knew what he said to the reporters would be on the front page of probably every magazine and newspaper, but it was his way of letting people know in case he ever had a date with a bloke.

The following day, Harry was a little apprehensive because he would be seeing Ron and Hermione at Fred's funeral, they would have bound to see one of the papers. So he met the staff at the steps of the castle and they all apparated to the small cemetery in Ottery St Catchpole. The ministry had charmed the whole area so any muggles that happened that way would remember something important and leave. Harry stood with Hagrid as he saw some of the Weasley's friends start to arrive, most gave Harry a small smile and a nod, Harry took that as they accepted him as a gay bloke. The Weasley family with Hermione slowly walked down the lane that led to the Burrow. Mr. Weasley was holding his wife and daughter, Ron holding Hermione, Bill had his arm around Fleur, while Charlie and Percy both had their arms around George and everyone knew they were holding George up. They all stood together around the grave of Fred Weasley, but Mr. Weasley walked over to Harry and took his arm, leading him down to the family. Harry stood next to Ron and Hermione who nodded, then Hermione took his hand. The ministry official started the service and Harry heard Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and Fleur crying, he felt Hermione's quiet sobs and noticed Ron tightened his hold on his girlfriend. The ministry official talked about what a prankster Fred was, but how he was also a very loyal friend and loyal to his family.

When the service finished, Fred's coffin lowered to the ground, George collapsed next to it and he kept touching it until it was too deep. Harry thought it was the saddest thing he'd ever seen and felt his own tears falling down his face.

'Goodbye my brother, my friend, my other half, you did good mate,' George said quietly as he cried, then Charlie and Percy helped him to his feet and everyone made their way back up to the Burrow.

Everyone was quiet, Mr. Weasley had taken his wife inside, but everyone else sat around, some talking about Fred and what a fun and energetic person he was. Others were talking about how to help George, he had lost his twin. Ron and Hermione sat with Harry, but they did keep their arms around each other. Ginny sat with her brothers, not far from Harry, Hermione and Ron, but Harry glanced at her and wondered if she had seen the papers. Finally she looked up at Harry and gave him a nod, before he saw tears gush down her face again and Harry couldn't take it, so he put his arm around Ginny and let her cry into his chest.

'Feel better Ginny?' Harry asked the moment her cries eased.

'A little, thanks Harry, but I didn't mean to cry all over you.'

'It's fine and if you need to again, you can always use my chest, um, my gay chest,' Harry said sheepishly.

'Yes, I did see that and I think that's the only reason I haven't hexed you because it's not like I can change anything. Oh well Harry, it seems I need to find another hero, one that likes girls and not boys.'

'Yeah, if I knew sooner I would have told you, but you know,' Harry shrugged.

'It's fine, we're friends, so it's okay. You should have seen Ron's face when dad showed him the front page of the Daily Prophet,' Ginny whispered.

'Okay, tell me.'

'First he went white and I mean white like a ghost, then his ears were so red we though they would combust, that's when Charlie told everyone he was gay.'

'Oh, okay, you're mum used to say he had a lot of girlfriends and that's why he never settled down.'

'He wasn't sure how mum and dad would take the news. But when he noticed they seemed fine reading about you wanting to shag blokes, he decided it was time.'

'I don't want to shag anyone, well, at least until I meet someone.'

'I know, you're not the type to get into shagging unless you were serious about someone, that's just you. Thinking about that though, I'm not that type, even if I would have liked to shag you. So when did you work it out?'

'When I was away with Hermione and Ron, I had a lot of time to think. So most nights I would lie on my bunk and things started to make sense.'

'Like how you never seemed comfortable kissing me. How I touched you and never got a reaction.'

Harry gave Ginny a sheepish smile, 'Yeah, but as I was thinking about all this, I tried something and I did react.'

'You thought of snogging some boy, maybe touching one?'

'You know me too well Ginny. So we're okay, still friends because to me you are one of my closest and I do care about you, a lot, just not that way.'

'We're good Harry so now I get to treat you like my brother since that's how mum and dad think of you, a son. So expect to be hexed and expect me to wind you up a lot, especially when you finally do find some bloke to take you on.'

Harry chuckled quietly then hugged Ginny again and he was glad he still had his friends, all his friends, but Ginny was such a nice girl, he didn't want to lose her friendship either, now he knows he hasn't.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

'I need to know something Harry, so truth. Are you staying at Hogwarts because you were worried I'd hex you?'

Harry smiled, 'No, even if I thought you would. I need to for a couple of reason, I'm not a kid anymore and I'm used to doing what I want and not be told what to do. No matter how much I love your mum, I just couldn't put up with all her fussing and trying to treat me as a kid. The other reason is because so much happened to me over the years and a lot happened at Hogwarts. I wanted to help repair the place because I always loved Hogwarts and I didn't want Voldemort to destroy those feelings for me. I need to put all that behind me and see the place for what it is and not see all the pain and suffering. I look around Hogwarts and that's what I see and feel, the pain from what he put me through, so I need to change that. You know I love the Burrow, it does have some painful memories, but nothing like Hogwarts. We had some good times here, some bad, but Hogwarts was almost all bad.'

'Yeah, I get it Harry, Voldemort did a lot to you over the years and not just during the fighting. Mum, yeah, she would probably see you as a kid, she sees me as a kid when I'm not anymore. I know legally I'm not an adult, but I feel like one, but she sees all of us as kids. So now you know I won't hex you, you will visit?'

'Of course I will, you'll see me a lot. I just need to get my head together and helping with the castle will do that.'

'So it looks like Ginny's okay with you mate,' Ron said as he tried to smile, but couldn't.

'Yeah, she's a great girl and realised nothing could change the fact I like blokes, not girls. But Ginny told me how you reacted when you found out.'

'You should have told me, that shocked the life out of me. There as big as anything, Harry Potter admits his gay, but nothing went on between him and Dumbledore. Blimey, it was enough to put me off my food.'

Harry chuckled, but again kept it quiet. 'Sorry, I was planning on telling you lot first, but they cornered me when I came out of Gringotts, so I figured I'd just get it over with. So you're really okay because you might see me snog some bloke?'

'Okay, I don't want the visualisation Harry, so keep it to yourself.'

Harry shrugged, as Ginny giggled, 'I explained to mum and dad that we were dating, they said they knew and that's why mum kept giving us jobs together before the wedding. They figured it might help with our problems.'

'There was never any problem, just your safety.'

'I know, but give it a rest, I don't need protecting and since you are never going to be more than a good friend, not a boyfriend, then you have to stop or I will hex you and you'll never get to shag some bloke.'

Harry saw the wicked look on Ginny's face, 'Alright, I get it, I don't want to lose my parts before I have a chance to use them, so keep that wand away and your temper under control red. Anyway, I need to see your parents, then explain to all of you.'

'Explain what?' Hermione asked.

'Come inside with me, that way I can tell you all at once.'

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny stepped into the house and saw Mr. Weasley sitting quietly with his wife, oldest son and his wife.

'Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,' Harry waited until they looked at him, 'I know this isn't the best time, but I need to explain something to you.'

'It's fine Harry, sit down,' Arthur nodded.

'Okay, Professor McGonagall told me she found a letter on her desk, it wasn't there earlier and it was from Dumbledore. He wrote that in two weeks he wants all of our trusted friends to meet at Hogwarts to explain some things. There's something he needs to say to me as well. McGonagall and I both think he has another letter charmed to arrive then.'

'So he never said what he had to explain?'

'No, only that he needed to explain some things, especially to me.'

'I do know what horcruxes are, do you think it's about those?' Arthur asked.

'Not many people do know what they are Mr. Weasley, but I will explain that. I don't think it's what Dumbledore wants to tell us, he already told me everything about them. So we're just not sure what this is all about.'

'What about your mother and Snape, maybe it's to do with that. You did say he loved her and was loyal to Dumbledore,' Molly said.

'Yeah, he was and Snape was in love with my mother, from the time they were kids. I look like the man she married, so I get why he didn't like me. Maybe it's about that, I just don't know. So I'll owl when I know what day so you could all come to Hogwarts.'

'We'll be there Harry, you're part of this family. So we want to be there for you.'

'Thanks Mr. Weasley, I should head off though.'

'Before you do Harry, can you tell me what a horcrux is, because I have no idea?' Bill asked.

Harry sighed, but nodded, then went on to explain. He saw the shock on Bill and Fleur's face, but also on Mrs. Weasley and Ginny's face. They were finally realising how far Voldemort was willing to go to live and rule their world, forever.

'Before I go Mr. Weasley, do you think someone can be born evil? I saw his mother and father, they weren't. His mother was what looked like a nice woman, his father was a muggle, wealthy, a bit arrogant, but apart from that he seemed okay.'

'Yes, I believe they can, I think it's just something inside some people that makes them turn out like that. Look at Bellatrix, a very evil, uncaring and sadistic woman, but her sister Andromeda, and cousin Sirius, they were good people and from what Sirius said about his family, they wanted to follow Voldemort, but they never went out and killed, not like his death eaters. Now how did you see his parents?'

'Oh memories, Dumbledore had been collecting them for years. We'd sit in his office and go through them and work out what his horcruxes were and where he hid them. But you're right, I only met Andromeda once, but she seemed nice enough. Old lady Malfoy wasn't like Bellatrix either. Regulus Black was a death eater but he found out what Voldemort was doing and wanted nothing to do with him or them. So maybe there was just something about him when he was conceived because even as a kid he was bad, cruel and very uncaring, another memory Dumbledore showed me.'

Over the next week, Harry visited the Burrow a lot, Ron, Hermione and Ginny would visit Hogwarts. They would see a few of their friends there, friends that wanted to help, like Harry. The friends all went to Remus and Tonks' funerals and Harry spoke with Andromeda, she asked Harry if she could keep Teddy with her even though he was Teddy's godfather. Harry instantly agreed because he thought she would be best for Teddy, all he wanted was to get to know his godson. So they worked out for Harry to come visit when he had time and get to know Teddy.

After speaking with the Weasley's, Harry spoke with Professor McGonagall and they decided to show Snape's memory to all the Weasley's, Aberforth, Neville and Kingsley, so they all crowded into Minerva's office and watched Severus Snape's memory. Right after there were shocked looks, and a lot of questions. Harry was the one that needed to answer most, but McGonagall, Hermione and Ron were able to chip in with bits of information. But finally, they all understood what had been going on for more than fifty years.

Harry was again sitting down by the black lake when McGonagall walked over to him.

'I wanted to let you know that we're going to start the repairs next week. But you've been putting a lot of things in that classroom, it's almost full.'

'Yeah, I know, but every time I start walking around the place, I keep finding things. So what is the first thing that's going to be fixed?'

'The great hall, even though we did some basic repairs, they were just temporary. We all need to eat, it's just lucky the weather is warm at the moment. After that we're going to start on the Slytherin rooms as they have the most damage.'

'What about the green houses and quidditch pitch?'

'We'll do them after the castle. I think we all agree that the castle is the most important thing. Hagrid explained how you showed him how to repair his house, that was a nice thing to do Harry.'

'Well since he was cleared of opening the chamber of secrets he should have a wand again and he actually surprised me with how easily he picked up the spells. He had forgotten them, but once I showed him, he was fine.'

'Yes, Hagrid was not the brightest student, but where did you get the wand you gave him, it looked familiar?'

'Malfoy, I disarmed him, Mr. Ollivander said it was mine now and I didn't want it or need it. I figured what better person to have that wand, until Hagrid buys another one that is. At least the wand is with someone good, even if Malfoy was never that bad.'

'No, he wasn't, he was a very frightened young man. You explained about what he was made to do, so I think we can all understand why he was the way he was. Fear for his parents, that can make anyone desperate.'

'Yeah, I get that and I saw how scared he was. I still don't like him, but I do understand him.'

'Yes, I believe you would Harry. So I'll leave you to your peace and quiet and your thoughts of Sirius.'

'How did you know I was thinking of Sirius?'

'This is the place you always sit when you think of your godfather. Albus and I knew and kept an eye on you, that was right after he died.'

'Yeah,' Harry looked back over the water, 'I don't know why, but sitting here made me feel better. Will the pain I feel for him ever get better professor?'

'You will never get over losing Sirius, but you do learn to live with it. Now the war is over, it is time to start thinking about the good times you shared. I know there wasn't a lot Harry, but you did get time with him, and you have those memories. You don't have those of your parents even if you feel the loss for them. So while you have time, think about those you love,' Minerva patted Harry's shoulder before walking off.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Over the next week, Harry did go to see Teddy a few times. He was starting to get to know Andromeda as well and they spoke honestly and open. They finally got to know a bit more about each other.

The staff, Harry and his friends started to help with the repairs of Hogwarts and Harry found it was a good distraction but it also gave him satisfaction.

When the great hall was completely repaired, even down to the ceiling being enchanted, the banners and candle holders, Harry cheered with his friends making all the staff laugh because they realised that these young people loved Hogwarts and they were showing it, the staff understood exactly how they felt.

'It looks great, doesn't it professor?' Harry couldn't stop grinning.

'Yes it does Harry and just in time for tomorrow. Everyone will be here to listen to this explanation from Albus.'

'Yeah, I've been thinking about that all day. Have you received another envelope?'

'No, so I think it will arrive some time tomorrow. Now why don't you rest for what's left of the day.'

'I think I will professor, see you in the morning,' Harry laughed again as he looked around the great hall before heading up to Gryffindor tower. He went straight in to have a shower, apart from wanting to be clean, the water helped soothed his aching muscles. He dried and wrapped a towel around himself, he found he liked sleeping without any clothes.

The following morning, Harry woke late, he dressed and headed down to the great hall. He smiled as he looked around the large room and just couldn't help feeling happy that Hogwarts, even if it's just the great hall, was coming back. Most of the staff had already eaten and were leaving to start on the next section of the castle when Harry sat down and food instantly appeared in front of him.

'You look tired Harry, were you thinking about this letter from Albus?'

'Yeah, it made it hard to fall asleep. I keep thinking about what else he could have to tell me, or us.'

'Yes, it's made me a little anxious as well. But I believe it is more for you than anyone else. I believe he just wants us here to support you.'

Harry sighed, 'Yeah, that occurred to me as well professor. Anyway, what time is everyone arriving?'

'In about an hour Harry, so you've got time to eat.' she smiled then left the great hall to start working on the Slytherin rooms.

Harry sat eating as he's thoughts drifted to what he was going to hear today and he just hoped it wasn't bad news. He ended up pushing his plate away as his nerves took over making it impossible to eat. So he left the great hall and went outside while he had time, he sat down in his usual spot near the black lake so he could think.

'What else could Dumbledore have to tell me,' Harry said to himself then thought about everything he'd seen in the memory, or heard from Dumbledore and nothing came to him except the one thing Harry had always been worried about. Maybe having a piece of Voldemort inside him had damaged his own soul and he could be a danger to everyone.

'Harry, everyone is here.'

Harry stood up, 'Thanks professor, time got away from me again.'

Harry and Minerva walked slowly and silently back into the castle and into the great hall. They saw all the Weasley's, Hermione, Kingsley, Aberforth, Neville and Luna. Harry gave everyone a nervous smile before he stood next to Hermione and Ron with Ginny on the other side. Then they all faced Minerva McGonagall.

'Another letter arrived from Albus, first to explain something, then to show a memory. So I'll read the letter first,' Minerva pulled out a piece of parchment and started to read: 'To everyone here that has suffered in one form or another due to this war that Voldemort began long before a lot of you were alive. I think you should know the full reason as to why you had to suffer. Most of you know or heard rumours that a prophecy was made about Harry and Voldemort. Well that prophecy was told to me by the prophet, or seer if you prefer. I showed Harry my memory of that prophecy the night Sirius Black died. But Harry, I'm so sorry but I never told you this, I never showed you all of it. There was more and since I did get told it and knew what it meant, I decided to put together some plans to make sure our world never fall under Voldemorts control. I will explain these plans after you have seen the full prophecy,' Minerva looked up but her eyes found Harry's, 'The rest of the letter is blank, so the rest will not reveal itself until we have seen this memory. Harry, are you right to see this?'

'I don't think there's much more that could shock me professor.'

Everyone watched as Minerva floated the pensieve into the middle of the staff table, then waved her wand, a younger Albus Dumbledore rose out and started speaking.

'Dear Harry, here is the prophecy in full, again I am sorry,' Dumbledore nodded but he seemed to stare directly at Harry before he started speaking, 'The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches, born to those that have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies and the dark lord will mark him as his equal but he will have power the dark lord knows not and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies. But he must suffer the pain of loss to be able to conquer the dark lord, if he never loses the ones he loves, he will always turn to those to do what he must, then he will not have the inner strength to be able to vanquish the dark lord and he will rule our world for all eternity. So the one born to those that thrice defied the dark lord must be denied love to vanquish the one with no love,' the figure of Albus Dumbledore sunk slowly below the surface and every eye turned to look at Harry.

'So I basically had to lose my parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, even Hedwig and Dobby to have this inner strength to beat Voldemort?'

'Yes, that is what it sounds like Harry. Are you okay or would you like some time before I read the rest of this letter?'

'I'm fine, shocked by okay.'

Minerva nodded then started to read again, 'Harry, I'm sure you are wondering what these plans are I put forth, but let me explain this first. I know you had a hard life, first living with your relatives who never treated you well at all. Then with everything you were subjected to by Voldemort and his followers from the time you stepped through the doors of Hogwarts. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but it made you who you are today. Everything you were forced to endure gave you that inner strength and it gave you the wisdom to do what you must. Imagine if you were brought up with loving parents, never having Voldemort after you for years. Would you have been able to face him and escape him time and time again, not to mention would you have had the courage to walk up to him and let yourself die for everyone here? I do not believe you would have survived the first encounter as an eleven year old boy if that is how you were raised. So I made a decision, a very hard decision that will probably make you very angry with me and I'm sure you would even like to hex me and I don't blame you, I would not stop you if you did. Now one of my plans that I was able to come up with was a charm to protect temporarily from the killing curse. I placed this on several people not long before Voldemort decided to confront them,' Minerva McGonagall looked up, 'There's nothing else written here, I don't know what's going on Harry.'

'I think I can explain that better in person Minerva,' Albus Dumbledore walked through the doors of the great hall and stared at Harry, 'Now I'm sure a lot of you will not believe it is I, so Kingsley, if you will perform whatever test or spell on me you wish to prove I am not using any sort of potions or charms to make you all believe I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.'

'Wait,' Harry shouted, then slowly walked towards Dumbledore, 'What was the first thing you said to me and what did you call me when I woke up in king's Cross station?'

'I said you cannot help, then I said you wonderful boy, you brave, brave man.'

'What did I ask you right before you left me at Kings Cross station?'

'You asked is this was real or has this been happening inside your head and I replied, of course it's happening inside your head Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real.'

Harry stared at the face of his old mentor and felt tears falling fast down his face and he couldn't seem to stop them.

'Well Harry, are you satisfied or do you want me to perform some tests?' Kingsley asked.

'It's Dumbledore, for real, but how, why?' Harry mumbled.

'Why because I knew you would have turned to me to do what you must Harry. It was not I who was going to finish Tom Riddle, it was always going to be you. As for how, which how do you mean?'

'How did you appear to me that night if you weren't dead?'

'A charmed I placed upon you at our last meeting. The moment Tom hit you with the killing curse it would activate,' Albus Dumbledore took the last couple of steps and stood right in front of Harry, 'I am sorry you had to go through all that Harry, but it was the only way for you to find the courage you needed to conquer Tom Riddle,' Albus could see Harry was going to completely break down, so he put his arms around him, holding him tight.

'Albus, why would you do that to Harry?'

'Minerva, it was a very hard decision to do that to Harry. But he kept refusing to use his own brilliant mind or take responsibility for his own power. We talked a lot and he always asked me what I thought when he came up with the right decision or idea. Everything Harry said, any idea, any suggestion was absolutely right. But he refused to believe he didn't need me, he only needed what was inside him.'

Harry pulled back, 'Yeah, I did do that, thinking you're ideas or suggestions would have to be right. But you always kept going with what I said. I just thought you were encouraging me.'

'I was encouraging you Harry, but it does not mean you weren't right every time. But I have more to tell you, so let's sit. I still am one hundred and thirty two years old.'

Harry laughed softly, then led Dumbledore to a seat and they both sat down, 'Okay, what else is there, because I don't think you could top this Dumbledore?'

'Oh I think I can Harry. The charm I placed upon myself so it looked like Severus killed me, I also placed upon another person. Everyone believes that this person is dead, but he is very much alive and he is here, outside those doors. Now before I bring him in, the reason I did this was for the same reason you kept asking me, or turning to me. You would have turned to him to help you when you needed to do this alone. Shall I ask him to join us Harry?'

'Um,' Harry looked around at everyone and saw they all looked anxious, he stared at his friends and they gave him an encouraging smile and nod, so he turned back to Dumbledore, 'Okay.'

'You may come in now,' Albus called towards the door and all eyes turned to stared at the double doors of the great hall. They noticed the handle turn, then one of the doors slowly opened and he stepped into the room to loud gasps and exclamations of "his alive".

'Oh fuck,' Harry said softly as he stood up as Sirius Black walked towards him and pulled Harry into his arms, 'Sirius,' he said then broke down again.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

'It's me Harry,' Sirius and Harry cried into each other's arms and every person that knew how much Harry had suffered because of losing Sirius were also in tears even Molly Weasley who always thought Sirius was a bad influence on Harry, 'Let's sit Harry, this has been a big shock for you.'

'Ah, yeah, you could say that Sirius. But what happened, you fell through the veil in the death chamber.'

'Yes, but I had a port key on me that I never knew about. So the moment I fell through the veil, it activated and I was transported to a house, Albus' house actually.'

'Why didn't you tell me Sirius?'

'He did not know Harry, I could not tell him because he would not have wanted to put you through that.'

'Did I have a go at Albus after though Harry, I almost hex him, you would have been proud of me,' Sirius smirked making Harry laugh, 'But I had a couple of people there to calm me down. Albus I think you should just get this over with before Harry turns whiter than he already is and passes out,' Harry and Sirius laughed softly but Harry hugged Sirius again.

'I can't believe you're here Sirius, I missed you so much.'

'I know Harry, but I'm here, for good and I missed you too.'

'I know a lot of you think this might have been too hard and cold to put Harry through the loss of his godfather, the one he loved over everyone. But Harry needed to be a little hard and cold you could say to get him through the last few years and if he had Sirius here, then he would have kept turning to him for help. Now there is no use me saying anything else Harry, I should just bring in the last couple of people.'

Harry stared at Dumbledore and for some reason that he couldn't understand, he felt nervous and anxious about who might be coming into the room next. He slowly stood and Sirius stood next to him, but kept his hand on Harrys' shoulder.

'You can both come in now,' Albus called.

Just like before, everyone's eyes turned to the door. The handle slowly turned and the door opened, in walked two people that no one ever expected to see. Everyone turned to Harry as he stared at his parents.

Harry stared at his mother and father, he swayed on the spot, he's eyes rolled back before collapsing in a heap on the ground and every single person in the room surrounded him, but it was Poppy that knelt next to him along with Sirius, James and Lily. They all watched anxiously as the matron performed her spells over Harry before she finally looked at Sirius.

'He just fainted, he'll be fine.'

'Albus, this is just too much. How could you have made Harry think his parents died?' Molly shouted angrily as she looked down at Harry.

'For the same reason I made him believe Sirius died Molly. He would have turned to his father to help him, then to his mother. The prophecy said Harry had to lose everyone he loved to be able to vanquish Voldemort. So I planned this a long time ago. It took me one year to work on a muggle idea then adapt it to magic. I used holograms of Lily and James while the real Lily and James were put into a deep unconscious state until it was all over. I was in the house to make sure baby Harry was fine during that time. The moment Voldemort disappeared I had Hagrid bring Harry to me. He was only alone for twenty minutes and there was no danger to him.

'I think he's coming around,' Sirius said.

'Harry,' Hermione said softly as she knelt down next to Harry.

'Hmm, I was having a nightmare, why didn't Ron wake me up?'

'You weren't dreaming Harry, open your eyes.'

'What do you mean I weren't dreaming,' Harry slowly opened his eyes, 'Hey.'

'Hi,' Hermione and Ron both smiled down at Harry.

'I could snog you and then you would know you're not dreaming,' Charlie grinned.

'Ow Charlie, I might want to snog blokes, but snogging you would be like snogging my brother. Well, if you snog like your sister, maybe that's worth it.'

'Oh gross Harry, I don't want to snog you with you thinking about when you used to snog my sister, before you finally realised you wanted blokes,' Charlie swooped down onto Harry's lips.

The moment Charlie let Harry's lips go, 'You almost choked me, you shoved your tongue down my throat.'

'I could shove something else down your throat if you like,' Charlie grinned wickedly and everyone laughed as Harry blushed, 'Oh I wouldn't mind taking your virginity Potter.'

'If you keep going I'll get your mum onto you.'

'Oh shit, not fair Harry, fine, go find some other bloke to shag.'

'He's like you Sirius, I never imagined my son to be gay,' James chuckled.

Harry turned sharply and saw Sirius, then his parents. He bolted to his feet as he stared at the three people he thought had died, then he turned to Dumbledore.

'You bastard,' Harry yelled, 'How could you do that to me, put me through that shit. Don't you realise what I went through in that fucking house,' Harry walked away and started pacing angrily.

'It was the only way to save them and for you to finish Voldemort Harry.'

'I don't fucking care, you shouldn't have done it Dumbledore. But I really was just a pawn in your game to finish him, wasn't I. Just like Snape said, like a pig for slaughter. You didn't fucking care if I lived or died or you wouldn't have left me in that house to be abused,' Harry kept pacing throwing angry looks at Dumbledore and everyone had never seen Harry this upset or angry before, 'Do you know how many times I ended up in the fucking hospital Dumbledore, how many broken bones I got from that fat fuck. How many times I ended up with concussion because he threw me into the cupboard. I'd lay there in that locked cupboard for days with a bleeding head or broken leg and they just went about their daily lives. How could you let that happen to anyone, let alone a kid?'

'It was a risk I was willing to take Harry, I am sorry if this hurts you and I never knew the extent of the abuse, but you were safer there.'

'Oh your sorry, you fucking bastard,' Harry yelled again as he's pacing got faster, 'I don't care if you are powerful, you stay away from me from now on or so help me I will fucking kill you myself,' Harry walked away from everyone and started pacing again, 'Aaaaaahhhhh,' Harry yelled and the whole wall of the great hall exploded outwards and before anyone could more Harry ran outside and apparated away.

'We need to find him fast and I think I might know where he went, everyone stay here, I'll talk to him and bring him back,' Arthur said then hurried towards the hole in the wall.

'Arthur, let me come with you,' Sirius ran over to join him then they both apparated away.

'Has Harry always had that type of temper?' James asked looked completely stunned at what his son had said and done.

'No, Harry's normally very calm, he wasn't even angry when he faced Voldemort. Let's hope Mr. Weasley can calm him down,' Hermione said in a very shaky voice.

'Well Arthur has been like a father to Harry for years and Harry does listen to him,' Kingsley said.

'Dad will get through to him, but how did he make the wall explode, he never even had his wand on him?' Ron looked around.

'It's his power Ron, that's what I tried to tell him once. He is a very powerful wizard and his power will continue to grow until he becomes the most powerful wizard our world has ever seen. Harry refused to believe he had any real power. He kept telling me I had the power, not him.'

'Who was that man that went after Harry?' Lily looked at Minerva.

'Arthur Weasley, all the red heads here are Weasley's and have basically been Harry's family since he started here. Ron and Hermione are his best friend, Ginny is also close to Harry, well, all the young people here are close to Harry and they all helped fight the night Voldemort died. Another thing Lily, the ones Harry's age were in a group called the DA with Harry teaching them all advance spells. It was that group that helped this group of young people able to survive going up against Voldemorts death eaters.'

'All of us learned whatever Harry taught. But I don't get something Dumbledore. Harry told us he saw his parents, Sirius and Remus that night. How did you pull that off?' Ron asked.

'The stone was not the real stone Ron. It was one I charmed to make it look like Harry brought his loved ones back. The real stone Harry has had for years and happens to be inside the handle of his wand.'

'How in the blazes did you find that out?'

'Garrick Ollivander told me after that wand chose Harry. Apart from sharing cores with Voldemorts wand, it also had the resurrection stone inside it. Garrick placed it in there to keep it hidden and he never thought anyone would end up with that wand. He did not want Voldemort to get hold of that stone and bring back his death eaters that had died or we would have been facing thousands instead of the few hundred you all did here.'

'So Harry really is the master of death then?' Hermione asked.

'Yes, the moment he won my wand, he became master of death. But his power is more powerful than those three items combined, he just never believed it.'

At the Burrow, Sirius followed Arthur towards the path, 'Look, my shed door is open. I never leave that open,' Arthur and Sirius walked towards the shed that Arthur kept all his muggle things in. They stepped inside and towards the back they saw Harry sitting on the floor leaning against the bench.

'Harry,' Arthur said softly as he knelt down.

'How could he do that?'

'I don't know Harry, but by the sound of it he had no choice. But Sirius and your parents are alive and here, so why don't you go back and see them?'

'No, if I see him I might do something that we'll both regret.'

'Harry, Lily and James are worried about you, why don't you go back?'

'Sirius, I don't know those people. Yeah they might be my parents, but that doesn't mean anything. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have been my parents for years, but it still took me a long time to get comfortable with them. You, I felt a connection instantly. I don't know if I can be a son to them.'

'You won't know till you try Harry. I know it took you a while to get comfortable enough with Molly and I to start confiding in us and we will always think of you as another son. But your real parents are here, their waiting for you.'

'Mr. Weasley, how would you expect your son to react if he never knew you and all of a sudden you were back in his life and he's an adult?'

'I can't answer that, but if you want my advice, talk to them, just get to know each other. You don't have to be their son straight away, let them get to know you as a person and you get to know them, stay at Hogwarts but visit them, get to know each other.'

'Well, I've been taking your advice for years Mr. Weasley, so why should I stop now. Okay, I'll go back, but can you make sure he's not in the room.'

'I'll go now, you come with Sirius, alright,' Mr. Weasley patted Harry's should then left his shed.

'Sirius, what if they don't like me or I don't like them or we don't get on?'

'I think what Arthur said is right Harry, just talk to them and see where it goes. You didn't know me at first, then we got to know each other. Do the same with them, so come on,' Sirius pulled Harry to his feet and Harry instantly hugged him, 'Let me go introduce you to your parents.'

Harry let go of Sirius and nodded, they walked out of the shed then apparated back to Hogwarts. Harry stared at the destroyed great wall.

'Did I really do that?'

'Yep, you did Harry, merlin have you got a temper on you. I have to make sure not to get on your bad side saviour.'

Harry couldn't stop the smile that came to his face, 'Prat, stop with the names, I hate all those blasted names everyone keeps calling me.'

'I know, but it made you smile.'

'You always made me smile,' Harry glanced back at the castle, 'I'm nervous Sirius. I've wanted to know my parents as long as I can remember, now I'm scared how we'll get on.'

'That's natural and I'm sure they feel the same way. You're just stalling you know.'

'I know, but look at my hands, their shaking. I can walk to my death and my hands were steady. I'm about to walk up to my parents and I can't stop shaking.'

'It'll be fine Harry, let's go,' Sirius put his hand on Harry's shoulder and guided him forward. They walked slowly towards the busted wall and noticed that most of the people had left. They stepped over the rubble and into the great hall. Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville raced over to Harry and all four hugged Harry at the same time while Sirius went over to Lily and James and spoke quietly to them.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

'Harry, are you okay?' Molly asked as she hugged him the moment his friends let him go.

'I'm fine Mrs. Weasley, I'm sorry about swearing before. You know I normally wouldn't say those things in front of you.'

'I know and I think we all understand why you went off. None of us are happy with Albus at the moment. But you are going to tell me what happened to you as a child.'

'I will Mrs. Weasley, you know I usually tell you everything,' Harry knew he was stalling, but he just couldn't help it and he didn't know what to say to parents he never knew.

Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville noticed Harry looked nervous as he kept glancing at his parents.

'It's natural to feel nervous Harry. But they are your parents, go talk to them,' Hermione gave Harry an encouraging smile.

'Yeah, I am nervous.'

'We could get Charlie to snog you again, that might help with the nerves,' Neville said making Harry laugh.

'Prat Longbottom, but thanks,' Harry gave his friends a smile then slowly walked over to his parents, 'Hi,' he stared at his mother then his father before looking at Sirius.

'It's fine son, Sirius explain and I think Arthur Weasley is right. We need to get to know each other, so please do not feel uncomfortable with us. We just want to get to know our son.'

'Thanks for understanding…um…dad. All this is just unbelievable, I can't get my head around it.'

'We're having the same trouble Harry, but how are you feeling, you were very upset before?'

'Upset mum, call it pissed off. Where is he anyway?'

'He went upstairs with Minerva to explain things to her. She is just as upset with him as everyone else that was here. Arthur told him you didn't want to see him.'

'Yeah, I thought Mr. Weasley would do that. He knew I meant it when I said I might do something we'd both regret, he's always been good at reading me. But there's a few things I need to know and understand. Did you know at the time or after that he planned this?'

'Not at the time Harry, but after he explained to us why he took us from you, we were like you, angry and very upset with him. But he said it was to save our lives, yours included, he told us the rest of the prophecy. We only heard the first part just after you were born.' James said.

'We debated whether to secretly contact you when you were old enough to understand, but we did not want to put you in danger.' Lily said.

'I was in constant danger, so a bit more wouldn't have made much difference. Do you know everything from then on?'

'Albus would come by and fill us in and he did allow us to use polyjuice potion to watch you sometimes. It was so hard to stand there and not let you know we were alive.'

'Son, there's a lot to talk about, why don't you come back home with us?' James instantly saw Harry looked wary, 'I don't mean to stay unless you want to, I'm suggesting we talk, get to know each other a little more. We can have dinner and just talk.'

Harry stared at his parents for a minute then looked at his godfather, 'Will you be there Sirius?'

'If you want me to Harry.'

'Of course I do, I missed you, you can't believe how much I missed you. Do you know I went looking for nearly headless Nick after you died to see if you might come back as a ghosts, I didn't want to let you go, in any form.'

'No, I didn't know that and I knew that would have been hard on you Harry. But if you think about all this differently, if we were here, with you, then Voldemort might still be here, like the prophecy said, ruling our world for eternity. Don't you think our sacrifice to stop that was worth it?'

'Right now, I just don't know. You know what part of my life was like Sirius. It was bloody hard and damned painful. I almost died so many times, I don't know how I survived. But I need to know something, if he took mum and dad, why did he leave you?'

'He was going to, but remember, I went after Pettigrew and ended up in Azkaban, he thought I was out of the way. He did debate trying to get me out, but that might have alerted you to having a godfather that you might have turned to when you thought you needed help. And yes, I know what your life was like, not everything, I didn't know what they did to you.'

'Yes, I am going to see that brother-in-law of mine and show him what an adult wizard can do,' James said darkly.

Harry turned back to his father, then gave him a smile. 'Give Petunia heaps too as she stood there and let him do it. But she did have her own punishments for me, like starving me, making me stand naked in the cold garage and not move for hours,' Harry faced his mother, 'She was a bitch and I hope you don't want anything to do with her because if you do, then you won't see me again.'

'I wouldn't Harry, not after hearing what they did. I never thought Tuny was capable of hurting a child. But I just might go with your father and let her know just how good at magic I am,' Lily smiled at her son.

'Oh they are in for it now, you do not want to get Lily angry, she's like Molly.'

'Oh great, so I have Mrs. Weasley, my mother and my friend, Ginny, all with tempers, Hermione not so much, but still has a go at me. It must be the red hair.'

'So that large red head that snogged you, are you two aren't a couple?' Lily asked.

'No, that's Charlie Weasley, I think of all of them as my brothers. I did date Ginny for a while, before I worked out I was gay, now she's like a sister as well. I'm just glad she didn't bat bogey me when she found out I was gay, she's like me for a while.'

'Oh no, not another one,' James laughed but saw a puzzled look on Harry's face, 'Lily does the bat bogey and she has used it on me when she was angry.'

'Oh, I have to watch myself, maybe I should spend more time with the boys.'

'We'll be in that, won't we Prongs?' Sirius grinned.

'It'll be fun Padfoot,' James grinned back making Harry laugh.

'You two start again and I will hex the both of you. Now why don't we head home so we can talk to our son and get to know him?'

'Yep, if you like Harry, until you're comfortable, Sirius can apparate with you,' James suggested.

'Um, yeah, that sounds good,' Harry looked around, 'Professor Flitwick, let Professor McGonagall know I'll fix the wall tomorrow and tell her I'm sorry.'

'I will Harry, but we do understand, just please control that temper of yours.'

'All I can do is try professor.'

'Alright, let's step outside,' James, Lily, Sirius and Harry walked outside, Harry gave his friends a nervous smile then put his arm on Sirius' arm.

'I can feel how nervous you are Harry, relax,' Sirius said softly.

Harry nodded, but didn't tell him the reason, 'I'm fine, let's go,' he felt Sirius turn and within a few seconds they arrived, 'This looks nice, where are we?'

'Godric's Hollow,' James said as he appeared beside Harry, 'Our home, it's charmed so witches and wizards think it's destroyed, but the moment you step past the charms, you see it as it really is.'

'I stood outside this place at Christmas,' Harry looked around.

'We know, we were watching you and you were with that bushy haired girl.'

'Hermione, she's my best friend just like Ron. You have a pool, must be nice in the warm weather.'

'It is, do you like to swim?' Lily asked.

'I can't swim,' Harry shrugged.

'But you went into the black lake in the triwizard tournament,' Sirius said.

'I had gillyweed, but I never learned to swim. At the Burrow, they all swim in the pond, I just sat in the water at the edge.'

'Then maybe when you are comfortable with us we can teach you?' James said.

'Yeah, maybe.'

'Let's go have some tea and you can tell us some things about yourself,' Lily said softly.

'Yeah, alright…mum, blimey that sounds strange, I've never said that before.'

'We know it would, but until you're comfortable, you can call us Lily and James for now.'

'No, I don't think I could call my parents by their names, I'll get used to it.'

Lily smiled then went inside, while James, Sirius and Harry sat down at a nice outdoor setting just outside the large glass doors. Harry kept looking around until he felt Sirius pat his shoulder which made Harry give a nervous smile.

'It's fine, relax.'

'I am, but it's very quiet here, or is that part of the charm?'

'No, that's why we originally had this place built, because of how quiet and secluded it is.'

'Where are you living Sirius?'

'I have a house at the other end of town. I like to be close to Prongs but I also like my privacy.'

'Yeah, he goes out disguised so he can pick up blokes to bring home.'

Harry gave a nervous laugh as he felt his stomach clench, 'I never knew you were gay Sirius.'

'We never had a lot of time to really get to know each other and when we were together it was with the order.'

'Why did Dumbledore let you stay there because he would know I wanted to get to know you?'

'He thought after everything, he would give you some time with me. He still had it planned for me to leave, someway. He had a lot of plans Harry and there is more to this, but not now. Relax and get to know you're parents and they have to get to know you.'

'We will Sirius, but first, you just go out and shag, don't you want to settle down?'

'Nope, I like doing what I want when I want.'

'So do I, being alone all these years, I've gotten very independent. That's why I didn't want to stay at the Burrow with the Weasley's. I love them, but Mrs. Weasley can get a bit overbearing at times and I know it's just because she loves me.'

'She does and worries about you. But they have to realise you're an adult now and don't really need protecting anymore.'

'They seem like very nice people Harry, I could tell they care about you,' James said.

Harry thought he saw regret on his father's face, 'Yeah, they are good people. They never had a lot, with seven kids, but there was a lot of love in that house. Mrs. Weasley used to make me have four helpings of dinner or breakfast, whatever, she thought I was too skinny and that was before she knew the truth. But they all became part of my life, Ron more than most of course, my best mate even with our fights. I know this must be upsetting for you to hear, there will be a lot of that.'

'We know and we would like to know everything about you. Yes it's not a nice thing for a parent to hear their child talk about another family. I'm sure you're upset with us as well, we expect you to be. You're bound to have a lot of questions, some easy to answer some will be hard and painful to answer. So we take our time, we talk and get to know each other, then we tell our stories.' James said seriously.

Harry nodded as his mother stepped out with a tray with tea and biscuits. She handed out a cup of tea to everyone and placed the biscuits on the table but closer to Harry. James, Lily and Sirius could see Harry was a little apprehensive but they could understand, so they thought just trying to keep the conversation light could help him relax.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

Sirius could tell Harry wasn't sure what to do or say, 'You know Harry, one thing about all this, Albus never let your parents know too much about you. Of course he told them certain things about your life and even when they went out, disguised of course, they would hear things. I told them not to take much notice about what was written about you. So they finally have a chance for you to tell them about your life and they can tell you about theirs.'

'Well, my life was all about Voldemort, blood, torture, fighting, not much else to say,' Harry could see that upset his parents, 'Okay, yeah, I had some good times, with my friends, playing quidditch, spending time at the Burrow with the Weasley's. Um, do you know anything about the triwizard tournament?'

'We were told a death eater entered you and you were only fourteen. We were told that it was all set up so Voldemort could get you, Albus didn't want to tell us too much. You fought a dragon, went into the black lake, faced things like a sphinx. We'd like to hear all of it if you want to tell us,' James said as he stared at his son trying to find some sense of him.

'Okay, well the dragon turned out to be the easy part because I summoned my broom,' Harry looked at Sirius, 'The one you gave me, the Firebolt, everyone loved that broom. After a lot of fancy flying, I did get the egg, but burned of course, all the contestants did, my broom never flew right after that, singed badly but she was still fast. The second task took me ages to work out and Cedric, he was the proper Hogwarts champion, Hufflepuff and seeker for that house, so we were used to going up against each other. Hagrid had told me about the dragons, Cedric had no idea, so I told him what to expect. The second task I had no idea about this blasted egg, Cedric told me to have a bath and take my egg, he even told me the password for the prefects bathroom so I could have some privacy. That was actually the first time I was in water anything like a pool, that bath is huge.'

'Yes, I know, their fabulous, aren't they,' Lily smiled.

'Right, you were a prefect,' Harry gave his mother a small smile, 'So I was in the bathroom, but still couldn't work it out. Moaning myrtle, who's always had a thing for me, she told me to open it under the water, I did. But she had me so embarrassed.'

'Why, she's a ghost and a grumpy one at that,' James smiled, he wanted to get Harry to say something that would put a smile on his face.

'Oh, okay,' Harry gave another smile, but bigger, 'She went under the water, then she kept coming up to me. I'm a fourteen hormonal boy and she was looking at me. I had no idea what to do, I just kept the bubbles around me so she wouldn't see anything,' Harry heard Sirius snicker, then his father and mother then, before all three were laughing. At first Harry glared, then he finally joined them, he laughed, but he smiled at Sirius, because his laugh was his bark like laugh. After they all settle down, Harry finished his story about the triwizard, how he ended up with Cedric in the cemetery, how he died, how he was tortured, finally how he escaped, but he also told them how they helped him that night. 'So after him, Snape and McGonagall found out that Mad-Eye wasn't really Mad-Eye but a death eater called Barty Crouch jr, they found the real Mad-Eye, he'd been imprisoned in his trunk for nine months. After that, he took me to his office where Sirius was waiting, finally up to the hospital wing where most of the Weasley's were, Mrs. Weasley was almost hysterical trying to find out how I was and where I was. I was hurt, overwhelmed and blamed myself for Cedric's death. I ended up crying into Mrs. Weasley's arms. She was the first person to hug me like a parent, Hermione was the first person to actually hug me, I was twelve,' Harry shook his head, 'Anyway, Madame Pomfrey gave me a dreamless sleep potion, I so hate that potion,' Harry shuddered, 'I woke up to angry voices, Sirius, or Padfoot was growling, him and Fudge were arguing, he refused to believe I saw Voldemort get reborn. From then on my life which was already shit, got worse. Apart from the Weasley's, a few of my close friends, and the order of the phoenix, no one believed me. So my name was shit, I was being called all sorts of things, how I loved attention and would do anything to keep it, I'd lie about anything, which isn't true, I don't lie. If I can't tell someone something, I say I can't, but I never make something up. I think it was growing up in that house, Dudley always lied to get me in trouble.'

'Do you still have that broom?' Sirius asked.

'No, the night Mad-Eye, the real one, when they had six others turn into me and move me from Privet Drive to a safe house then the Burrow, we were surrounded in death eaters and Voldemort eventually turned up. I was with Hagrid, he was on your old bike, it had a sidecar attached, well it turned upside down. Hedwig got killed, she fell along with the broom, Hagrid was unconscious, I managed to steer the blasted thing, but I was almost passing out through the pain in my head.'

'Pain in your head, what do you mean?' Lily asked anxiously.

'My scar, whenever Voldemort was near me or I went into his mind, the pain was terrible, this white hot searing pain. If he was really angry, I usually passed out. That night I was just able to hang on to the bike, my wand seemed to move by itself, ended up breaking Voldemorts borrowed wand. Hagrid was able to hit a button Mr. Weasley had worked onto the bike and we took off, but he passed out again. We ended up crashing in Andromeda Tonks' garden. I woke up on the sofa with Ted Tonks beside me. We took a port key back to the Burrow.'

'I've heard two things, only two things and I want to go curse Albus. But what did you mean turn into you I didn't get that bit?' Lily asked.

Harry noticed his mother's voice went hard at first, then it soften, 'They used polyjuice potion, seven Harry Potter's, it was to confuse the death eaters. I didn't want them to do it, but I was still underage. So each Potter would be with an auror or order member. George Weasley was with Remus, Fred Weasley, his twin, was with his father, Fleur Weasley, Bill Weasley's wife, they were together, Mundungus Fletcher with Mad-Eye, Ron was with Remus' wife, Tonks, or Nymphadora, she hated that name, don't blame her. Um Hermione was with Kingsley and I was with Hagrid, some on brooms, others on thestrals. They knew the death eaters were ordered not to kill me, Voldemort wanted that job, but even though I wouldn't have died, the others with them might have, I tried to argue, but not against Mad-Eye and the others all said they wanted to do it to make sure I got out of there safely. Since I couldn't use magic to leave, this was the only way. Mad-Eye died that night, George lost his ear, but the rest of us got out of it with just some minor injuries.'

James again wanted to try and lighten the mood, 'You said Fleur and Hermione changed into you, that must have been embarrassing, knowing two girls were you all over.'

Harry blushed brightly, 'Okay, why blush Harry,' Sirius said with amusement in his voice.

'Okay,' Harry rolled his eyes, 'Hermione told me months later that she felt strange walking as a boy. At first I didn't really understand what she meant, I finally got it. She wasn't used to things between her legs, not something I want to think about especially my best friend. Anyway, she also told me before Kingsley helped her up onto the thestral that she had a look,' that was it, Sirius and his parents broke up into loud laughter.

'I think it would be worse now that you know your gay, having a girl look at your cock,' Sirius chuckled.

Lily hit Sirius' arm, 'Sirius.'

'Yeah,' Harry hit Sirius as well, 'but yes, embarrassing, I think it was more the fact that she wouldn't really see much, nothing was happening, if you get my meaning.'

'What, she didn't make you get a fat to see what you were like.'

'Sirius,' Harry glared making his parents laugh again, 'Oh blimey, I hope she didn't, she never said anything about that,' Harry felt himself blush again, he wanted to think of something else, 'But, from what I've seen and heard in the boys dorm rooms and bathrooms, I don't have anything to be embarrassed about.'

'Oh, so you're like your father in that way,' Lily said but blushed brightly.

'Lil,' James' eyes went wide, but he realise what his wife was doing, 'Well yes, I'm very proud, you seem to like it my love.'

This time Lily went wide eyed and blushed brighter making Harry and Sirius laugh again. So after that, it was more embarrassing stories from all four of them.

'So were you in hiding all this time?' Harry asked.

'No, we used polyjuice potion, I would to go down to my shop, your mother did when she went out. Sometimes we would sneak into Hogwarts to see you, as long as we didn't do it often.'

'Oh, okay, well, who did you turn into?'

'First, I'd send my patronus to Albus, he could tell us who we could turn into. Then we'd go through the shrieking shake and out onto the grounds. Usually we were muggles, student age, we had uniforms ready. There were times I was Albus or any of the male staff, Lily would sometimes be Poppy or McGonagall, sometimes a female student. We'd watch you play quidditch a lot, more than anything else, but sometimes we did watch you on other days. You were a brilliant seeker, daring, you scared your mother that much I usually came home with busted fingers from where she would grasp my hand to tight.

'I love playing quidditch, I ended up captain in our sixth year. Fred and George Weasley, they were on the team when I got on in my first year, they were beaters. Oliver Wood was our captain then, he plays for Puddlemere United now. Angelina Johnson, who is George's girlfriend now, she was our captain in fifth year, I never got to play much that year though. Ron was my keeper and Ginny was one of my chasers, she wants to play professionally.'

'Why didn't you get to play that year?' James asked.

'Umbridge banned me and the twins because we belted the shit out of Malfoy. I started hitting him first, then George, Angelina and Katie held Fred back, but she still banned him.'

'I know this isn't nice and they don't know about it, but show your parents what Umbridge made you do, in her detentions,' Sirius said then nodded to Harry.

He put his hand on the table, 'She made us use this quill, no ink, when we wrote the words appeared on parchment in our blood. I had it done the most, she really hated me, but all the DA was made to do it.'

Lily gently took Harry's hand and ran her finger lightly over the words now scared and faded on the back of her son's hand. Then to Harry's surprised she picked up his hand and kissed the scars.

'There terrible, can I go curse her?'

Harry gave his mother a smile, 'I wish you could, she's finally in Azkaban, bitch. But I hope you don't see my other scars.'

'Others, what others?' James asked.

Harry shrugged, 'All over, I'm covered in scars, I normally won't take my shirt off when people are around. I suppose I should show this one,' Harry unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it aside, 'Like my head, happened the night I killed him.'

'Oh Harry,' Lily stared at her son, Harry saw her face fall, he watched his father wipe the tears that were falling down her face, 'No wonder Albus never told us everything, we wouldn't have gone through with this.'

'We had no choice Lily, I don't like the fact our son suffered, but you know what would have happened. We had to think of more than just us, even our son,' James turned back to Harry who had done his shirt back up, 'We'd do anything to keep you safe and protected, but our world could have suffered, please don't ever think we never cared or loved you. But we had to think of the bigger picture.'

'I get that, I had to do the same. That night I had to make myself believe there might have been a chance my friends could die, so I needed to tell someone else about the snake. I was about to go die, Hermione and Ron could have been easily killed because all the death eaters and Voldemort knew we were close. The three of us were the only ones that knew how to kill him, if I was dead and they died,' Harry shrugged but never finished the sentence. James, Lily and Sirius knew what Harry didn't say, they knew exactly what he meant. James and Lily took one of Harry's hands in each of theirs and the sat there staring at each other. Sirius could see Harry was a little uncomfortable, but he never pulled his hands out of his parents. He knew Harry didn't want to hurt his parents feelings so he just let them hold his hands, let strangers basically, hold his hands.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Sirius thought he would help Harry out so he wouldn't upset James and Lily.

'When Umbridge banned you, what happened with the team?'

'Well Ginny ended up playing seeker ever though she prefers chaser, Angelina found a couple of others to play beater. Even with all that, we did pretty good, never won the cup that year, Ravenclaw did, as long as it wasn't Slytherin, I didn't care. But it was lucky Ginny was such a good seeker, she won us the cup the following year.'

'But if you were seeker, after Umbridge left, why did she play your position?' James asked.

'Snape had me in a month's detention, every Saturday. He only did so we wouldn't beat Slytherin for the cup. But Ginny won the cup for us, I had no idea until I got back to the common room. Everyone was celebrating, I ended up snogging Ginny right there in front of everyone.'

'Yeah, about that, you only just worked out your gay, but didn't you get any idea when you snogged Ginny?' Sirius asked.

'No, I had too much on my mind and I'd never seen a gay couple before. I was so used to seeing boy girl, not two blokes or two girls. I knew Ginny liked me, had for years and I was in a really good mood, didn't happen very often and Ginny's a great girl, fun to be with, snogs good too. But we're just good friends now, actually I treat her like a sister, an annoying sister at times, like the boys. They love to wind me up about anything, especially Fred and George.'

'You say Fred and George and they were twins, but we never saw twins,' Lily said.

'Fred died the night of the fighting.'

'When Albus told us then showed us the pictures that had been taken right after. I can't believe all you young people survived that. Then to see the damage done to the castle, it's amazing that all of you never died. He made sure we never heard it was going on. I know we would have turned up if we did.'

'We were so outnumbered, we had the staff of course, a lot of aged students, some younger that snuck back, the order turned up, but nowhere near what he had. He had about fifty death eaters, about one hundred snatchers, maybe one fifty, giants and dementors on his side. When his amplified voice said I was dead, all of a sudden hundreds of people turned up to fight on our side. Charlie Weasley went into Hogsmeade, brought them all back. Kreacher led the house elves into battle, the centaurs came out to fight with us, even the hippogriffs did, Buckbeak,' Harry gave Sirius a smile.

'Kreacher, why would that little shit help?'

'He changed Sirius, Hermione, Ron and I were staying at Grimmauld Place to work on some plans. He gave us some valuable information, so I gave him a locket that belonged to Regulus. Do you know that your brother actually tried to help before he died?'

'No, and we were never sure if he died or not. So tell me what happened.'

'He found out that Voldemort was making horcruxes. He took the real locket, replaced it with a fake. But you had to drink the potion Voldemort had put the locket in. When the pain and thirst got too much, you would need to drink, you couldn't use magic either, so you go down to the lake surrounding the stone basin. The moment you touched the water, the inferi pulled you in. They pulled me under, luckily he cast flames around us. Anyway, Regulus made Kreacher promise to destroy the locket and to never tell his family what happened to him or about any of it. After everyone thought you died, Mundungus stripped Grimmauld Place, he took the locket because Kreacher couldn't destroy it, even elf magic couldn't. Umbridge ended up blackmailing it out of Mundungus. When we broke into the ministry, I stunned the bitch and took the locket. But I gave Kreacher the other locket, the one that belonged to Regulus. From then on he cooked and cleaned, he called me master Harry, bowed, he even gave Ron a small bow and Hermione got a little head bow, she's a muggleborn, he didn't go too far. But he really looked after us when we were there.'

'If you don't mind me asking Harry, if elf magic couldn't destroy it, how did you?' James asked.

'First it needed to be opened,' Harry started speaking parseltongue, 'Then I had Ron stab it with the sword of Gryffindor, he'd just saved my life and helped retrieved the sword.'

'What happened?' Lily asked in a very quiet voice.

'I followed a doe patronus one night, had no idea whose it was. It led me to a small frozen pond, I saw the sword under the surface. I stripped off and jumped in, but the horcrux, the locket I had around my neck tried to kill me, it was pulling me under and since I can't swim it was hard to try to get up to the surface. I felt arms pull me up and out, it was Ron. Right before that, Ron had been gone for weeks, we had a huge fight and he took off leaving Hermione and me alone.'

Lily decided to get off something so serious, 'So you got that Umbridge woman once at least,' Lily said.

Harry grinned, 'Yep, felt good too.'

'I will say this, one thing Harry hates, the attention and the names,' this time it was Sirius that wanted to change the subject.

'Yes, we heard about those, the boy who lived, the chosen one, undesirable number one and the saviour of the wizarding world. You must get a lot of attention even if you don't like it.'

'All the time, that's why I try to stay away from crowded magical towns. When I went to Gringotts, I stepped outside the doors and there was this huge crowd there,' Harry shuddered, 'After giving Skeeter heaps, I answered a couple of questions, then they just seem to shake my hand, pat my back, but all smiled. It can be unnerving, having people, strangers smile at me and thank me all the time. I try to tell everyone it wasn't just me, I had a hell of a lot of help.'

'Yes, we read about what you said to Skeeter, but we didn't understand about the muggle band comment. Lily did tell us they were a huge band in the sixties, but what did that have to do with Skeeter?' James asked.

'Skeeter is an unregistered animagi, she turns into a beetle,' Harry grinned, which made the others laugh.

'So basically you threatened her without anyone knowing it, clever Harry,' Sirius shook his head in amusement. 'I read about how she insinuated about your relationship with Dumbledore.'

'Yeah, she did, making it look like we were having sex. That's why I explained what we used to do in the office, then I figured I'd let everyone know I was gay. Get it out and done with, usually things about my life end up in the papers, I don't like it, but I've gotten used to it. But about that day and now you're here, the vaults, how did you work that?'

'Albus helped, we divided our vault, had the name changed on the one we used and left you the Potter family vault.'

'Mine was the same, I took what I thought I would need, about quarter of what was in there, left you the rest. We wanted to make sure you were able to take care of yourself since we couldn't be with you. This way you would have anything you wanted.'

'I only saw your vault two weeks ago Sirius, I just couldn't bring myself to go in there, but it shocked the life out of me when I saw it. But I was never able to get to your vault,' Harry looked at his parents, 'I was either at the Dursleys, or under guard all the time. So that day I went and bought clothes for myself, first time, it felt good to get out of Dudley's old clothes. I would shop, then all I wanted to do was eat, but I only allow Kreacher to cook for me, got a bit paranoid. So I finished my shopping, had so many bags of clothes I think I would put a lot of woman to shame. Then I headed back to Hogwarts, called Kreacher and ate more than I had in a long time. Usually I don't eat a lot, even with Mrs. Weasley's fabulous cooking, I'm a small eater. I think it was just finally sinking in that I could have a pretty normal life.'

'Yes, some of the clothes we saw you in surprised us, makes sense now.' James said.

'Is that why you haven't touched your tea or eaten a biscuit?' Lily asked nodding to the still full cup of tea.

'Yeah, sorry, it'll take me a while to work out who I can trust and who I can't. Too much has happened to me over the years. But…dad, you said something before, about a shop, what type of shop is it?'

'Antiques, I love finding and restoring antiques. It's here in Godric's Hollow, I just stroll down the street and go to work, it's more fun than work, well, to me it is.'

'What about you?' Harry looked at his mother.

'I'm a photographer, why don't you come inside and I'll show you some photo's I've taken?'

The four of them headed into the house, Lily took Harry's hand and showed him around then at all the pictures on the wall. Harry's mouth dropped open when he saw all the pictures of him, from young right up till about a year ago. He never knew he was having his picture taken and it was his mother.

'Even though I hate having my picture taken, these are great. All the pictures of me that are out there are terrible, usually I'm bleeding and a mess, just had some fight with death eaters or Voldemort when they turned up snapping photos. But some of these are at Hogwarts, some in the park at Privet Drive,' Harry smiled at his mother, 'I only have two photos of you and one of Sirius, do you think I could have one of all of us?'

'I'll get a heap done for you, but you have to wear something dressier.'

'I like my jeans, it's me. But at Hogwarts, I know Colin was always taking my picture, he hero worshipped me,' Harry rolled his eyes, 'Who were you when you took these?'

'Most of them were when I was a sixth year Ravenclaw girl, a muggle really. But I was dressed like a sixth year Ravenclaw.'

'Yeah, one of James' fantasies came true,' Sirius chuckled.

'Sirius, don't go telling our son about that,' James scolded.

Harry looked at Sirius and they both broke up laughing, 'I thought that would be more you're style Sirius, with boys instead of girls. Dad having a thing about mum dressing up like a school girl, not something I really want to think about.'

'It just took me back to when we were dating at Hogwarts,' James said but glared at Sirius.

'You and mum hated each other at Hogwarts. I remember mum calling you an arrogant toe rag,' Harry smirked at his parents.

'How did you know I called your father that?'

'The memory I got from Snape, but I saw that part when I broke into his mind when he was trying to teach me occlumense. I saw dad using levicorpus on Snape just because Sirius said he was bored. That was after you took your O.W.L.s.'

'Yes it was. Sirius and I just can't help ourselves when we saw Snivellus, could we Padfoot?'

'I just used to look at him and want to hex him Prongs, you controlled yourself and just levitated him.'

'Um, can you tell me if you did, see I never got to see the rest, only up until he called mum that, you said you were going to take his pants off.'

Sirius and James roared with laughter, they looked at Harry, 'Yep,' they both said together making all of them laugh even Lily.

'I had them down around his ankles.'

'It's no wonder he hated both of you, but you do know he was helping all this time, don't you?'

'We know, but back then he was into the dark arts and he called your mother that, I wasn't going to stand it, not calling anyone that, but especially your mother.'

'Harry, your father was already in love with your mum by then, but as you saw, she hated him.'

'You told me they got together in seventh year.'

'We did, your father finally stopped acting like a prat and was very sweet. So I agreed to go with him to Hogsmeade and I was surprised how well we got on. We've been together ever since.'

'Okay, I'm getting a glimpse into my parent's lives. But I need to know something, if you knew everything or most things. You were living here, doing normal couple things, why didn't you have more kids?'

'We spoke about that Harry, but having to give you up to save you and our world was hard. We thought we would be replacing you and we didn't want to do that.'

Harry could hear the way his father said that and the look on his parents faces. He realised how hard all this must have been on them. They knew he was alive, their son and they couldn't go to him, be there for him. Harry never knew, so it wasn't that bad, so he stepped in front of his parents, put his arms around both of them, holding them tight.

'I'm sorry you had to go through that.'

'Harry, you don't have to be, we wanted to give you a chance to live and if that meant leaving you to do that, then we were willing. It was hard, yes, but you are the most important person to your father and I. Our son, our baby boy and we love you.'

Sirius watched Harry, Lily and James holding each other and even though he could tell Harry was still a little uncomfortable, he smiled knowing Harry was finally getting to know his parents and his parents were finally getting to know their son.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

As Sirius watched Harry, Lily and James, he knew Harry still felt a little uncomfortable with them, but he also knew that with time, he would realise how much he loved them.

'Harry, listen for a minute. I know this is hard on you right now and we understand that. It was on me when I was explained everything, told we had to stay away from you so you could finish Voldemort then have a normal life. But imagine what Lily and James went through, they had a son they loved more than their own lives, but they had to give him up, give you up to save you. Every day they felt the pain of having to do that, every day they would see or hear things about you and couldn't do anything to help no matter how much they wanted to. I felt the same after I was told what was going on.'

'I get that Sirius, I do. I might not have done what you did, what any of you did, but I do understand it and imagine how hard it would have been to give up your baby. But you have to understand something, yes, I wanted to know my parents, and I do love you, but to me, you're strangers, Mr. Weasley told me to take my time, get to know each other which is what I am going to do. But please have some patience with me. This is a lot to take in, that you're here, alive, something I did wish for all my life. But being an adult, going through all that shit, I'm very independent and I like to do what I want. I'm not used to having anyone tell me what I could do or what I couldn't do.'

'We know son and we do understand. So we can take as much time as you want, let's do what Arthur Weasley suggested, just like what we have been doing. Let's get to know each other, try to be friends before we try to be a family. Even though we watched you in secret for years, we see you as our son even if we had nothing to do with your life. You knew nothing, so for you this will be harder and take you a while to feel comfortable with us.'

'So why don't you three men talk, I'm going to start dinner,' Lily stepped closer to Harry, 'Would you mind if I kissed you Harry?'

'Um, no, I don't mind mum,' Harry gave her a smile then felt her lips on his cheek, so he gave her a hug.

'Thank you, now I'm going to start dinner.'

'Let's sit down Harry, make yourself at home, since technically it is your home. I'm not saying you have to live here or even think of it as your home. We would love for you to live with us, but as you said, you're used to being alone. We just want you to feel comfortable here and with us.'

'Yeah,' Harry, James and Sirius sat down, Harry made sure to sit next to Sirius, 'When I saw this place for the first time, I tried to imagine living here with you. I felt the pain of what had taken place, of what I lost. I even cried down at your headstones, Hermione held me. This is so amazing but so unbelievable, but I do want to get to know you dad, and mum, I really do. It's just going to take time.'

'We know Harry, so take as much time as you want. Now when we were at Hogwarts, I heard the name Longbottom and that tall boy that was one of your friends. Is that Frank and Alice's son?'

'Yeah, Neville, he's a good mate, but so different to what he used to be like. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna, I'm not sure if you noticed the blond girl. But those five are my closest friends, the ones I trust over anyone, well apart from Sirius. They have never let me down, they never turned their backs on me when so many others did, even friends. I have others friends but I keep a bit of emotional distance between us. That's what I meant about trust, who I can and can't trust. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna I do, with anything including my life, even if I don't tell them a lot. Once I have that trust, I think I will be able to relax more around you.'

'Okay, since we do know what had taken place when everyone turned their back on you and Albus, it does make more sense. Yes, I noticed a pretty blond girl, she seemed to be staring off, or lost in her own mind. I wasn't sure what to make of her.'

'Luna's on the strange side, but one of the best people you could ever met and a good friend. When Sirius died, blimey I have to stop saying that,' Harry reached over and took his hand, 'Since you're not dead.'

'I'm not Harry, but go on with what you were saying,' Sirius squeezed Harry's hand.

James sat there staring at Harry as he looked at Sirius. Every look Harry gave Sirius, every smile, even every touch showed more than what Harry was letting on. James had watched his son a lot over the years, but he recognised some of his own personality in Harry, so he realised why Harry seemed so close to Sirius, but Sirius had no idea.

'Okay, after I thought you died, Ron and Hermione kept trying to help me through that. I wouldn't let them and only for the reason neither of them had ever lost anyone close them then, not at the time. One day I was in the forbidden forest, watching the thestrals and trying to think about a life without you. Luna stepped beside me, she often went in to see the thestrals. We never said anything at first, but that was us, comfortable with the silence. Then she mentioned losing my godfather, I instantly stiffen, I did not want to talk about it. But she told me her mother died when she was nine, I think it was nine, young anyway. I realised she could understand, so I started talking to her and it actually helped. I appreciated Luna's compassion and her understanding. So from then on I made sure everyone knew that she was a close friend and I made sure I wouldn't let anyone call her Looney, which everyone did then. After that, well after everyone knew Voldemort was really back, no one ever called her Looney again, except the Slytherin's, but none of us gave a shit about them.'

'Actually you make sense Harry, she did know what you were feeling, so she could understand more than your other friends. You said Fred died, so Ron now has an understanding of what you were feeling.'

'Yeah, he does and he finally understands why I wouldn't talk to him about Sirius. They liked Sirius a lot and they did feel the loss, I think more Ron than Hermione. Ron thought Sirius was the best, Hermione thought Sirius was a bad influence on me.'

'I can believe that as Lil has said that about me and Sirius, he's a bad influence, but the best friend you could ask for.'

'Thanks Prongs,' Sirius grinned.

'Alright you three, at the table,' Lily called and waited until her husband, son and Sirius sat down, 'If you're a little paranoid, I'm sure Sirius will taste your food first to make sure it's safe.'

Harry gave his mother a smile but he did roll his eyes at her, 'I'm sorry about that, but since Sirius does trust you it helps me trust you, so no, I'll be fine and it looks good.'

'Lily is a wonderful cook Harry, I'd say as good as Molly,' Sirius said.

'Thank you Sirius, it's nice to get a compliment from you, doesn't happen very often.'

Harry chuckled at Sirius' scowling face before they all started eating. Sirius kept the conversation light, talking about things he did at Hogwarts, what James did, even Remus. Harry laughed a lot listening to the stories and realised how different their time at Hogwarts was to his.

'I think the only time I really laughed, I'm talking side aching laughs was with what the fake Mad-Eye did to Malfoy.'

'Okay, we have to hear this,' James said giving Harry a smile.

'Well, like always, Malfoy had a go at me, I had a go back, but as I turned to leave, he was going to curse me. Mad-eye was watching and turned Malfoy into a ferret, with pure white hair like Malfoy's hair, then he started to bounce him all around the place before putting him down Crabbe's pants. Cedric and I was rolling around laughing until McGonagall came up and realised what had happened and changed him back, spoiled our fun,' Harry gazed at Sirius because he was doing his bark like laughter again, something Harry loved to hear and had missed so much.

'You said Malfoy, that would be Lucius Malfoy's son?' James asked as he watched Harry watching Sirius.

'Yeah, Draco, I might not like the little shit, but he never really wanted to be part of all that. He was why Snape gave me that detention when the game for the cup was on. I confronted Malfoy in the bathrooms about something and we duelled. I ended up using this spell on him that I had no idea what it did. It was one Snape invented called sectumsempra. I found Malfoy lying in a pool of his own blood, dying, luckily Snape came in, did some spells over him before taking him up to the hospital. I was in shock that I could do something like that to anyone, well, anyone that wasn't Voldemort.'

'I know that spell Harry, Snivellus tried to use it on me and Sirius. We were always too fast for him though. That was why we used to levitate him all the time.'

'Well George, the one with the ear missing, that's the spell that took his ear. We know now Snape never meant to hurt George, he was trying to save Remus and the death eater moved as Remus and George moved, he got hit in the ear.'

'I was telling your parents a bit about the Weasley's, how Arthur loves all muggle things.'

'He's obsessed with muggle stuff, his shed's great, has all this stuff like microwaves, old tv, stereo's, he takes them apart to see how they work then puts them back together. He had this old car, he put a flying charm on it. That thing is still running around the forbidden forest after it rescued me and Ron from Aragogs family.'

'Who is Aragog?' Lily asked.

'Hagrid's pet giant spider, he died, but he had a large family and they were going to eat me and Ron. Poor Ron though, he's scared to death of spiders and these things were huge. I'm used to spiders, I'd find them in my clothes or on my mattress in the cupboard.'

'You mentioned a cupboard, please tell me about that?' Lily asked.

Harry sighed but nodded, 'Until I was eleven they made me sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. It had a small thin mattress on the floor and one blanket, that was my room, where they locked me up all the time. I only got the room upstairs when the Hogwarts letters started arriving. Vernon hoped it would make me forget about them, it didn't. He still put a lock on the door, bars on the window and a small flap in the bottom of the door.'

'I'm going to murder that bastard,' James said savagely.

'What was the flap for?' Lily said as she wiped a tear from her cheeks.

'To pass food through, if they remembered. When I was twelve, I was locked in there for ages, I think just over a week. Ron, George and Fred flew their dads car there because everyone was worried, no one had heard from me. Ron hooked a chain to the bars and pulled them off, Fred and George used an old muggle trick and picked the lock, they went downstairs to get my trunk, it was always locked up. We were just climbing into the car when the Dursleys came in. But we got away and when Ron told his mother what he'd seen about me being locked in, she was going nuts because they flew the car, Ron was trying to calm her down. She made me have four helpings of breakfast. I hadn't eaten in two days at that point, so I stuffed myself silly,' Harry could see angry or shock on the three faces, then his mother had her arms around him, crying into his shoulder. Harry was a bit stunned at first, but he sighed and hugged her back and saw Sirius give him a nod. They stood there holding each other and Harry waited until his mother stopped crying, 'Think of this mum, I never have to see them again but if I did, I'm an adult wizard now and I'm allowed to use magic whenever I want, and I'm pretty good at it too.'

'You are, you are powerful my beautiful boy. But if I ever seen them, any of them, they will see what I can do and no one will stop me.'

'Oh Lily's spoken, she has a temper that wife of mine,' James gave his son a smile and a nod. 'I'd really love to keep talking, getting to know you Harry, but I'm sure you're tired. Now you don't have to, but we'd like you too. We have your old room, it's to suit an adult, if you want to stay?'

Harry noticed Sirius gave him a very small nod, 'What about you Sirius?'

'I'll stay, there's a room here I used quite often.'

'Okay, then I'd like to stay, I'm enjoying getting to know you.'

'That settles then, come on, I'll show you to your room,' Lily and Harry walked up the stairs then opened the door, 'This was your baby room, but we changed it a lot over the years. To a boy's room, then a young teenage boy's room, until it now looks like an adult's room that would suit a man.'

'Why did you change it so often?'

'We kept hoping he would be gone and we'd have you back with us.'

Harry hugged his mother again, 'I wish it could have been years ago, but we can get to know each other now.' Harry slowly let his mother go and stared into her eyes, his eyes.

'Yes, we can, you look tired, why don't you get some sleep because we do have a lot to keep talking about. You need to know us and we need to know you,' Lily kissed Harry's cheek, 'Good night my beautiful boy.'

'Good night…mum,' Harry gave her another smile then stepped into his old room, closing the door behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

Downstairs in the living room, 'So Sirius, how do you think it went, do you see Harry coming around and accepting us, trusting us?'

'He will James, just don't push him. That's one thing I know with absolute certainty about Harry, he can be very stubborn and if anyone tries to make him do something he's either not ready for or doesn't want to, he won't, then he will back away from you, keep his distance for a long time until he thinks you won't push him again.'

'We won't, I could see that myself. But he really is a remarkable young man considering what he has been through in his life. Did he ever tell you what happened to him as a child?'

'No, only that it stopped when he told them I was an escaped murderer. Harry said after that, they left him completely alone and only spoke to him when it was absolutely necessary. Harry tends to keep things to himself, even from the people he's closest too,' Sirius saw Lily come back downstairs, 'I hope neither of you are upset that Harry seems to want me here or with him all the time. I realised why he's like that, when we spent time at Grimmauld Place, I think he came to think of me as a father since he never knew you, either of you.'

'We don't mind Sirius, I'm glad just you did get some time with him. He seems to really care about you,' Lily said.

'I've been watching Harry carefully Sirius, studying him. I saw a few things that reminded me of me. You're wrong about Harry thinking of you as a father though.'

'How would you know that, you've only just met him James, you are upset about this, aren't you?'

'No, I'm not, like Lily I'm glad he had you, but come sit down and let me explain what I think and you might just be shocked,' James and Lily sat together, then Sirius sat opposite, 'Yes, I can tell he cares deeply for you, but not as a father or father figure, not even as a godfather. Some of the looks he was giving you, the way he grasp your hand, he got this nervous look sometimes, when he looked at you. Sirius, Harry thinks of you as a man he's attracted to.'

'What, no, it can't be that and I only treated him as my godson, I explained all that to you.'

'Yes, I know you did. But during that time at Grimmauld Place, Harry didn't even know he was gay, so he probably didn't realise himself what he was feeling for you. After hearing about how he was raised, he really doesn't know how he should feel for a parent or godparent. I know he had the Weasley family, he would have seen the way the kids were with their parents. But he never met them until he was twelve, by then a child has already developed the way they perceive things, feelings, a lot of things. Not all and they can change, we all know that. So you showed him true affection and he was grateful for that. Now at first he might have confused being grateful for affection even without realising it and with his life, it's a wonder he was able to work anything out. But I saw the looks Sirius, he looked at you as someone that he likes, more than just a family or friend look. Actually, he looked at you how I used to look at Lily when I first realised I liked her and she didn't pay me any attention. I don't want you to feel awkward knowing this, but I figured you should know. You're life has always been about fun, casual sex, we know it and we accepted that as you. Now even though Harry should really find someone more he's own age, I realised something else. Harry actually acts older, like someone our age, again I think that's why he fell for you and not someone younger. I just don't want to see him hurt Sirius, not anymore. If you were the type of man that wanted to get serious and in a proper relationship, then it would not worry me in the slightest if you started a relationship with Harry. But that's not who you are, you're casual, not serious.'

Sirius sat back and thought about all the times he spent with Harry, 'There were times at Grimmauld Place when Harry would hardly leave my side. A few times, after something serious happening, that night, Harry would come into my room and ask if he could sleep in there. He's very good at hiding his feelings, he never let on he was scared, but I could see it, just a fleeting look. Those nights are when I knew he was scared, so I used to let him sleep with me. I stayed dressed on those nights, the only time I did,' Sirius looked up at James and Lily, 'Do you think he had feelings then but never realised what they were?'

'Yes, I do. He needed you and wanted to feel close to you even if he didn't understand why or even if he was scared. So just be careful, once he's comfortable with us and all this sinks in, he might say something to you. At the moment he's not showing how confident and self-assured he is and I think we all get that, it's been too much of a shock for him. But he's true self will show itself once he's relaxed around us.'

'This is a lot to take in James, I have a lot to think about. The last thing I want to do is hurt Harry in anyway. But just out of curiosity here, if say I realise I liked Harry as a man and not as my godson, how would you both feel about that, he is your son and I'm your age?'

'I just want Harry to have a good life Sirius, a happy life. He hasn't had very many happy or contented days,' Lily said.

'I'm the same, as long as Harry was happy and if that was with you, then we accept that. Age really isn't an issue anyway, lots of relationships that work are with people that are ten, twenty or even more years between them. But again, Harry acts and seems older, not like a seventeen year old, nearly eighteen. He does truly act like his thirty, forty even. So think, consider all this in case Harry does let you know.'

'I will, the last thing I want to do is cause him any more harm. So I have a lot of thinking to do, I might head to bed and do just that,' as the three stood up, Sirius hugged James then kissed Lily before walking slowly up the stairs.

Lily turned to her husband, 'We should head to bed as well sweetheart.'

'Yes, we should my love,' James took his wife's hand and they walked up the stairs, but both of them went straight to Harry's door, James quietly opened it and saw Harry sprawled on his stomach, sound asleep. They closed the door and stepped into their room.

'He's really here James, our son, in his home.'

'Yes, Harry is really here Lil and even though he's an adult, we can have a life with our son. Now let's get some sleep because I've got a feeling some of the things we are going to hear will be hard not only on Harry, but on us as well. Dumbledore did say we would hear everything eventually and a lot of it won't be nice.'

'Yes, I'm a bit nervous about that,' Lily hugged her husband, 'I love you James.'

'I love you to my Lily,' James kissed his wife, they got changed and into bed, then James pulled his wife into his arms and they drifted off to sleep.

The following morning, Harry was the first downstairs. He didn't think his parents would mind, so he made himself some tea and sat down staring around the house.

James walked up behind Harry and noticed he looked lost in his thoughts, 'Morning son.'

'Morning dad, did you sleep well?'

'Best sleep I've had in years, did you sleep well?'

'Yes, like you, best sleep I've had in ages and no nightmares.'

James thought it was too early to get into any serious discussions, so he ignored the nightmare comment and made himself some tea.

'I thought I was an early riser.'

'I always get up early. When I stayed at the Burrow, I usually beat Mrs. Weasley down who is up early to cook breakfast for everyone before they go to work. But there, it's so quiet and peaceful, I usually sit staring out over the orchard as I listen to all the sounds of the morning.'

'I like the way you put that, it's romantic in a way, the sounds of the morning. Yes, I like to hear that myself.'

'Could I ask you something dad?'

'Anything.'

'I know your animagi form is a stag, what's your patronus?'

'The same, a stag, Sirius told me your patronus is a stag and how it came to be so.'

'When Remus taught me how to do it in my third year, we used a boggart, but I never had a lot of happy memories. So I had this dream, I don't know if it was real or not. But it was you and mum, you were just talking to me, but it gave me this perfect peaceful feeling, a happy feeling. So I tried it and it worked, then when Remus explained about your animagi he thought that's why my patronus turned out to match yours and of course, it was before I met Sirius.'

'Well I'm flattered Harry, but why did you need to learn in third year?'

'Didn't he tell you why?' James shook his head, 'When the ministry thought Sirius was an escaped murderer, they put dementors around the school. Every time I got near one, I'd pass out. I told Remus what I heard before I fainted and he explained why, so that's when he taught me how to conjure one.'

'Can you tell me what made you pass out?'

Harry stared down at his tea, 'I used to hear your deaths whenever a dementor came near me. First it started with a woman screaming, then I started to hear things. Mum trying to get Voldemort to kill her and not me, then more things. I heard your voice telling mum to run, then you tried to take him on, I heard your screams as you died, then mum begging Voldemort not to kill me before she screamed as she died. But none of it was real, was it?'

'No, Albus said he had to make it as real as he could. He never meant to hurt you Harry, he was trying to save us as well as you. If we had been here that night, what you heard would have happened for real.'

'I know, but I don't care, he shouldn't have done it. I'm sure a man who is supposed to be that brilliant could have come up with another way and let us stay together. No, I'll never forgive him for that. I'm sorry if that sounds cold, but after what I went through, I could never trust him again.'

'What did they do to you son,' James put his hand on Harry's arm.

'You name it, they did it,' Harry looked up and saw the concern on his father's face and in his eyes, but he also saw the love his father had for him, so Harry told his father everything, how much he was hit by his uncle, how his aunt had other type of punishments, how many times he ended up in muggle hospitals. Harry left nothing out even though he knew it was hard for his father to hear, it was also hard for Harry to remember.

'I'm going to curse that bastard to hell and back then beat the shit out of him,' James said savagely.

'Dad, it's over and you could get into trouble if you attack a muggle,' Harry gave his father a serious look, 'It's over, just forget it okay. I really want to put that part of my life completely behind me.'

'I'm still going to speak with him Harry and if I don't use magic, then I can't get into trouble. You might be stubborn, you get that from me and I'm going to make him pay for doing that to my son and a child.'

Harry felt himself choke up a bit at the thought of his father wanting to hurt Vernon because he had hurt his son. Harry put his arms around his father, holding him tight.

'I love you dad.'

'I love you too Harry, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.'

'I know you are and I also know you wouldn't have let it happen if you knew. Now let's not talk about it anymore,' Harry let his father go, 'But if you do go see him, I'm going with you.'

'You've got it son, but I'm going to start breakfast, are you hungry?'

'Starved, thanks.'

Lily and Sirius had both been standing just out of sight from the two men in the kitchen. They heard everything Harry said, Lily had tears falling down her face, Sirius look like he was going to explode with anger. They both got themselves under control, Lily making sure her face was dry, then they put a smile on their faces and joined the two men in the kitchen.

'Morning,' Sirius said and sat beside Harry giving him a smile and saw the smile Harry gave him back made Sirius think that James was right, so he knew he still had a lot of thinking to do.

'Morning James, it's a great day isn't it,' Lily kissed her husband.

'Fabulous my sweet Lily, now let me up woman so I can start breakfast,' James kissed his wife again then got up.

'So what are your plans for today Harry?' Sirius asked.

'I really should go repair the great hall, so I might do that. But I had a thought, we should really get everyone together so they can meet you and you can meet them. Sirius knows the Weasley's, but not my friends apart from Hermione and Ron.'

'We can work something out,' James put plates on the table, 'Now let's eat, but Harry, we don't want to crowd you, but would you mind if we came with you today?'

'I don't mind dad, then you're going to have to show me you're shop. I don't know anything about antiques, but I'd still like to see it.'

'Anytime you want to go, I'll show you around. But at least I don't need to take polyjuice potion anymore. Albus was having a huge statement released in the Daily Prophet about all this, including the prophecy and why he put together his plans. So it will be known were still alive along with Sirius.'

'Please be careful though, if the escaped death eaters want to hurt me, they will know to go after the people I'm closest to.'

'I'm not sure if you were told Harry, but I'm very good at duelling, I can hold my own, even against death eaters.'

'I was told, but they can be just as bad as Voldemort. So like Mad-Eye would always say…'

Constant vigilance,' Harry, Sirius, James and Lily said together making the four laugh. After that they had a wonderful breakfast and conversation never stopped once.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

At Hogwarts, Harry was repairing the wall of the great hall and refused to let anyone help him, he said he caused it so he wanted to fix it. James, Lily and Sirius stood watching him when Ginny, Ron and Hermione joined them just as Harry finished and stepped back to see how it looked.

'Not bad,' Harry smiled at the repaired wall.

'Not bad, bloody brilliant Harry. You did that pretty fast as well, considering the damage,' James put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

'Thanks dad, and I know I caused a lot of damage, I was just angry.'

'Yes, we know and none of us can blame you. But now it's lunch time, why don't we go inside and eat?'

'Good idea, I'm starved,' Harry said but heard Ron and Ginny laugh, 'What?'

'It's usually us that's hungry, not you, about time, don't you think Potter?' Ginny smirked.

Harry laughed, 'If you keep calling me that Ginny, I might start calling you that name you don't want anyone to know.'

'Don't think about it or you'll lose your parts.'

'See, it's the red head, Lily gets that same look,' James put his arm around his wife then they all made their way into the great hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table.

'Kreacher,' Harry called and a few seconds he was in front of Harry, bowing, 'Can you get all of us lunch please?'

'Of course master Harry,' Kreacher turned to Sirius, 'It's nice to see master Sirius,' the elf bowed then disappeared, Harry laughed loudly at the shocked look on Sirius' face.

'Told you Sirius.'

'I know, but it's hard to believe it's the same unpleasant thing I grew up with.'

'Hello everyone,' Minerva said as she stepped near the group and everyone gave her a smile and said hello, 'Harry, Kingsley told me to let you know that the ministry is being overwhelmed with owls from people. Ever since the story came out this morning about your parents and godfather, the owls haven't stopped. He wants to know what you want done with your mail?'

Harry groaned, 'Blimey, I don't know, maybe he could just store them until I get a chance to look at them.'

'I'll let him know you need time, but the last two weeks has seen a lot of mail for you, for Hermione and Ron as well. You three will have to go in there eventually and sort it out. They have been checked for curses and jinxes, so they are safe.'

'Why us professor?' Ron asked.

'You were with Harry helping him, people know that you two have supported and been Harry's friends for year, so they are showing their support. You three have also been given a name as well. So even though Harry is known as the saviour, you three are now called the golden trio.'

'Oh merlin, what next,' Harry shook his head then saw Ron's amazed face, 'Don't say you like the name Ron?'

'No, but I can't believe we've been given a name though. We just basically followed you're lead and helped you when you needed it.'

'You did more than that Ron, you used to come up with some great ideas and Hermione was the brains behind it all. Even though she kept telling me he wouldn't hide one at Hogwarts,' Harry smirked at her.

'I know and I'm sorry Harry, but I really didn't think he would do that. I should have believed you when you said how he felt about this place.'

'These three together can get through anything. Harry is the one with the power, but he is very smart when he lets himself. Ron is a great strategist and when he uses his brain he can come up with some great plans and ideas. Hermione is the brightest witch of her age and can usually quote anything from any book she has read, then usually get spells to work instantly. They work well together,' Minerva explained.

'They complement each other even if they are very different people,' Lily smiled at her son and his friends.

'Yes, they do. Harry, I'll tell Kingsley to store the letters, I'm sure he'll contact you.'

'Thanks professor,' Harry smiled then went back to eating.

'Harry, may I speak with you please?' Albus Dumbledore asked quietly from behind him.

'No, so get away from me,' Harry's fists clenched on the table top.

'Harry, please let me explain why I did this.'

Harry pushed himself to his feet and glared at Dumbledore, 'Get the fuck away from me. I want nothing to do with you, ever again.'

James, Sirius and Ron all stood next to Harry, keeping their hands on some part of him, trying to calm him down.

'Give him some time Albus,' James said anxiously.

'Yes, alright, take this, show Harry and I hope he finally understands. Just know Harry, I am sorry, but it was necessary,' Albus handed James a vial then slowly and sadly left the great hall.

'Calm down Harry,' Sirius said keeping a tight hold on him because he'd seen Harry's hand twitch towards his wand.

'If he's here, I'm not staying,' Harry turned to McGonagall, 'Sorry professor, but I can't stay and help if he's here. I'll go pack my things.'

'I understand Harry, it's fine.'

'Let me come with you,' James said then walked off with Harry. Then they got to Gryffindor tower James faced Harry, 'If you want, why don't you stay with us until you get your own place? You know you're mother and I would love to have you there.'

Harry stopped and faced his father, 'I was thinking of heading back to the Burrow, but if you're sure, I'd like that. We could keep getting to know each other and Sirius is usually there as well.'

James smiled knowing exactly why Harry liked the idea of Sirius being at his home all the time.

'Of course I'm sure, you're my son and it's your home as well, as long as you want it to be.'

'Okay, then I'd like to come…home,' Harry smiled then finished packing.

'Let's go home Harry,' James put his hand on Harry's shoulder and they left Gryffindor tower and headed down to the great hall.

'Professor,' Harry dug into his rucksack and pulled out a wand, 'Give that back to him.'

'Albus' wand, of course Harry, are you going back to the Burrow?'

'No, I'm going home with my parents. I'll see you later professor,' Harry turned to his father, 'Do you mind if my friends come with us?'

'Of course not, all your friends are welcome in your home,' Lily answered before her husband.

Harry smiled, 'Do you lot want to come back for a while?'

'Yes, we'd like that Harry,' Hermione said.

Sirius took hold of Hermione, James took Ginny and Lily took Ron in side-along apparition with Harry following. They landed amongst the trees at the back of the Potter home then James led the way inside.

'Make yourselves at home, Harry, why don't you put your things in your room.'

'Okay, I won't be long,' Harry turned and ran up the stairs.

'I thought he was going to destroy the great hall again,' Hermione said.

'Yeah, so did I. Harry doesn't get angry very often and it takes a lot to make him that mad,' Ron said as he next to Hermione, 'I don't blame him though, not with what he had to put up with in that house.'

'He told me a bit about that this morning. I can't believe they did all that to a child. I told Harry I was going to curse Dursley to hell and back before beating the shit out of him. Harry doesn't want me to get into trouble for doing that to a muggle. But he does want to come with me when I confront him and I am going to hit him, I can't get into trouble since I won't be using magic.'

'James,' Lily shook her head then heard the three young people chuckle, 'What?'

'He sounds like Harry, looks like him too,' Ginny said.

'Okay, all done, it will be only until I buy my own place.'

'Take your time, we love having you here,' Lily smiled.

'Thanks and at least it's in one piece. I always thought my room would have been destroyed, that's how it looks from the outside.'

'Is that where we are, Godric's Hollow?' Ron asked in surprise.

'Yes, until yesterday, whenever a witch or wizard saw the house, it would look destroyed, but it should look perfect now. This is where we have been living all this time. We saw you and Harry when you came here. I wanted to run out of the house and hold him,' Lily looked from Hermione to Harry, giving him a smile.

'Merlin this is a lot to take in. We've known Harry since the first day on the train when we were eleven. But it was just Harry, never Harry and his parents or family.'

'Tell me about it Ron, I'm still having a hard time with it and thinking I'm not having one of my nightmares.'

'They were mainly about Voldemort Harry, not your parents. I know, I woke you up enough.'

'I know, but I did have a lot of Sirius, some of my parents as well, even you three.'

'You had nightmares about us?' Ginny asked.

'Yeah, I see him killing you instead of me, in the forbidden forest, killing all of my friends, but you three are the ones he does first. I woke up screaming the first few nights with that one. The worst one though even if they were bad enough, was about me turning into the next Voldemort. Merlin that took a long time to calm down after that, I ended up getting Kreacher to grab me some Firewhiskey, I just kept drinking until I passed out.'

'I'd do the same, but you must have had, what, two glasses for that to happen?' Ron smirked making everyone laugh.

Harry shook his head in amusement, 'No you prat, about half the bottle. But I woke up with a massive headache. I told Madame Pomfrey and even though she wasn't happy with me, she gave me a hangover potion, then told me not to do it again.'

'And you told her all you could do is try, right Harry?' Hermione said smugly.

Harry laughed again, 'You know me well Hermione, I said exactly that.

'Dad said you ended up in his shed, that's where he found you. Why did you go in there?'

'I loved watching your dad work on all that muggle stuff. I always felt calm when I was in there, so I thought I needed to calm down, what better place,' Harry turned to his parents, 'I always gave Mr. Weasley something muggle related for his birthday or Christmas, usually things like spark plugs or electrical wires and wall plugs. What did he give you anyway?'

'It's a memory of when a seer told him something about you, well about all of us. It's the reason why Albus did what he did Harry. He showed us after and that is the only reason we agreed to stay hidden.'

'Tell me what this so called seer said.'

'That you would not accept that it would be you that could defeat Voldemort and you would keep turning to us. Then one by one Voldemort killed us, including you, then your friends before he ruled the world. Hogwarts was turned into a death eater school and all magical children had to go. Everyone worked but never got paid, they had to line up for some basic food products. All muggleborns were killed instantly, halfbloods were made to serve the purebloods. No one was allowed to own a wand and had to do everything the muggle way. Anyone talking about trying to change his world instantly got killed. No one could leave, all magical transport was stopped and everyone had dark marks branded on them which he could use to trace everyone and summon instantly to him. He would make people kill and torture using those marks. That was going to be our world if we stayed with you Harry. Can you understand now why Albus hid us and made you believe we died?'

During James' explanation, Harry had started pacing, when he finished, Harry looked at his father.

'So if we stayed together, you would have died, for real?'

'Yes, this seer was an old friend of Albus'. She approached him and told him what she had seen and about the prophecy that would be told to him. This happened while we were still students at Hogwarts, third years actually. So he started working on any plans he could, even back then before he heard the prophecy.'

Harry sat down with his head in his hands while he thought about what he'd heard and wondered if he could forgive the man that had meant so much to him, the man he trusted with everything. But one thing he knew was, he needed time to process all this information before he could decide anything.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

For the rest of the day, everyone mainly talked about what they wanted to do now the war was over and Voldemort was dead. Hermione, of course, wanted to finish her education, Ron said he'd probably do the same. Ginny was going to see if any teams would give her a try out, where Harry had no idea except doing nothing for a long time.

While they had been talking over dinner, an owl arrived and landed in front of Lily.

'I haven't had an owl in so long,' Lily smiled as she removed the letter, but the owl just sat there.

'I think it wants an answer mum.'

Lily read the letter then looked at Harry. 'It's from the minister, he knows I'm a photographer and would like to know if I could get a picture of the golden trio for release and he knows you would have to agree. He would like a picture of you with James and I, and one of you and Sirius.'

'I can understand one of us mum, but why the others?'

'People want to see the three of you Harry. From what I've been told, it was you three that brought an end to this war.'

Harry turned to Hermione and Ron, 'What do you both think about this, about us having one done?'

'We wouldn't mind Harry, but it's you that that has always hated the attention because it's you that gets it all the time, and it is just one picture Harry. We have only ever had one done together, when we were twelve.'

'Yeah, I know Hermione,' Harry sighed, 'Alright, just one.'

'Another thing mate, you were named most eligible bachelor in all the wizarding world, didn't matter if you were gay, it was in Witch Weekly,' Ron smirked.

'You're kidding, me, why me, I'm nothing to look at.'

'You are a very nice looking bloke Harry, why do you think I kept checking you out all the time, not to mention all the other girls at Hogwarts. But the main thing is Harry, you did kill Voldemort, you brought an end to this war. It's made you very famous and wanted by a lot of woman and men.'

Harry blushed, 'I might be famous, but I didn't do it alone, a damn lot of people helped bring an end to this war, I just finished it.'

'It doesn't matter Harry, you are still the one that killed him. We're known because everyone knows we're friends, but it's nothing on you. I know you never liked attention or being treated any differently. But you have to understand why you are treated with so much respect. He caused the suffering of thousands and you ended that suffering.'

'I do get it Ron, I just hate all this. But we'll get the pictures done. Will you promise to be careful when you're out though?'

'You know we can take care of ourselves Harry, you trained us,' Hermione shook her head.

Harry laughed, 'I know, all of you are good, especially little miss firecracker here, she did destroy the hall of prophecy with a simple reductor curse.'

The four friends laughed together making James, Lily and Sirius smile at Harry and his friends.

'I did want to ask, but who took out Bellatrix?' Lily asked.

'My mother,' Ron said proudly.

'Molly, blimey, I never knew she had it in her,' Sirius laughed.

'Well during the fighting, Bellatrix almost hit Ginny with the killing curse and it wasn't long after Fred died. Mum just lost it and pushed everyone out of the way, threw off her cloak and yelled, not my daughter you bitch, then they started duelling, eventually mum killed her. That's when Voldemort blasted McGonagall, Kingsley and Slughorn into the wall,' Ron explained.

'I was standing there so frightened for your mum Ron and I was ready to shield her if needed. But when Bellatrix died, I knew he was going to be pissed off, so I put a shield charm around your mum before I pulled my cloak off.'

'When we all realised you weren't dead, I thought I was seeing things. I'll never forgive you for doing that to us Harry. Seeing you being carried out by Hagrid and you looked dead, then you were lying at his feet,' Hermione wiped a tear from her cheek.

'I'm sorry Hermione, I had to and you know why.'

'I know, but it doesn't stop me wanting to hex you for scaring us like that.'

'But you forgive me, don't you Hermione?' Harry gave his lopsided cheeky grin before he kissed her cheek.

'You're lucky I love you Harry Potter, but don't do it again.

'I love you to, I promise to never get killed again,' Harry gave his cheeky grin again before he laughed with Ron and Ginny which started James, Lily and Sirius laughing. Hermione scowled for a minute, then laughed with her friend.

'When do you want to take these pictures mum?'

'How about tomorrow, that way you can at least wear something other than jeans.'

'I told you I like my jeans, it's what I'm comfortable in. So I'll wear them, but a nice shirt, how's that?'

Lily saw Harry's friends give her a look that told her she won't change Harry's mind. 'Alright, it's the best I can do. But that look you gave Hermione, your father gives me the same look when he knows he's in the wrong.'

'Harry uses that on all the girls, Hermione, Ginny, my mum, Luna, the Patil twins, Susan, Hannah, Angelina, Katie, so many girls and they all give in to him,' Ron smirked.

'There friends and since you know I'm gay that's all it will ever be. Hey Ron, this might shock you though. Did I tell you who I thought was cute, checked him out even though I didn't realise I was doing. He might be a git, but he is yummy, not really my type though.'

'Oh blimey, I don't want to know you lusted after Malfoy. Hermione and Ginny have both said they thought he was nice looking, even for a death eater. So no, I do not want you telling me anything about any bloke, keep it to yourself.'

'Alright, back to the pictures, let's say about ten tomorrow morning,' Lily said, then saw Hermione, Ginny and Harry all looked at Ron, 'Is something wrong with that time?'

'Yeah, Ron, you can't wake him up that early and he'll never smile if we do, he'll be a grumpy bastard,' Harry chuckled.

'Then how's eleven thirty, a better time Ron?' Lily gave him a smile.

Ron scowled at his friends before he smiled at Harry's mother, 'That's great, thanks Mrs. Potter.'

'Oh that sounds strange,' Harry said, 'But it's true, Mrs. Potter, blimey,' Harry fell back against the sofa.

'Harry, breathe, you've turned white,' Sirius said taking his hand, 'Yes, your mother, Mrs. Lily Potter.'

'Yeah, it's just all started to hit me that their alive and here, you're here,' Harry gave Sirius a small smile, 'Merlin I missed you Sirius.'

'I did too Harry,' Sirius hugged Harry but saw the look James gave him and he nodded acknowledging what James had told him.

After the friends left, Lily turned to Harry, 'I very much enjoyed getting to know your friends Harry, so why don't we have a party and you can asked all your friends that way we can get to meet them and they can meet us? I'm sure a lot of them are curious.'

'They probably are, we could get the Weasley family as well, you can meet them properly and their wonderful people.'

'Alright, let's see if we can organise this soon, I really would like to meet the people that have been a big part of your life.'

'If we can pull this off quickly, then Charlie will still be here. He has to head back to Romania soon.'

'Why does he live there and not here with his family?' Lily asked.

'He's a dragon handler, works with the large dragons,' Harry shuddered, 'He was one of the handlers that brought over the dragons for the triwizard tournament. I happen to get the worst dragon alive, a Hungarian horntail, nasty bloody things. The Norwegian ridgeback we flew out of Gringotts was bad, but nothing like the horntail.'

'You flew a dragon, okay, now I'm not sure if I believe you or not,' Sirius said.

'You know I don't lie Sirius,' Harry glared.

'Sorry, Harry, I know you don't so don't get your wand or anything else in a knot.'

Harry couldn't help it, he smiled, 'Well it's true, we broke into Gringotts, successfully, but Griphook the goblin we rescued and got us in, turned on us. So we jumped on the back of the dragon they had chained up down near the lower vaults. Hermione broke the chain and it flew us out of there, busting its way out as it went. Hermione, Ron and I were on its back, holding onto it's big spine things that stuck out of its back. Charlie said that it must have been thinking about freedom because those dragons can turn their heads right back, so it's lucky we were eaten. Anyway, once it flew low enough over this lake, we jumped. Not long after that we were at Hogwarts and an all-out war.'

'Well, as a gay bloke, I could understand why it wanted to eat you,' Sirius said very calmly and seriously then broke up at the look on Harry's face and how red it was.

'Sirius,' Lily said looking shocked.

'Oh blimey,' Harry said then stood up, 'Be right back,' he hurried up the stairs before anyone could say anything.

'What made you say that Sirius, he's embarrassed and because it was you,' James said.

'I don't know James, but I've been studying Harry since you told me. He's actually cute.'

'Just don't say anything unless you want a serious relationship, I don't think he would handle a rejection, especially from you.'

'I won't Prongs, trust me, I wouldn't do that to him. But I have been thinking about it, especially since all this is over and we can be ourselves and together. I always hoped for a proper relationship, settle down, I never thought I'd met anyone I would want to spend my life with. There's something about Harry though, I don't know.'

'Okay, but don't embarrass him again, he's finally relaxing with us.'

'I won't, promise,' Sirius saw Harry walked down the stairs and he was still a little flushed, 'Sorry Harry, couldn't help it.'

'Yeah,' Harry shook his head but sat down again.

'Harry, you mentioned the cloak earlier, is that the one I left you?'

'Yep, that thing came in handy over the years, not to mention the map.'

'You've got the map, but how?'

'Ginny's brothers, Fred and George, they gave it to me in my third year because of the dementors, I could use the tunnels to go into Hogsmeade. But knowing you were going into hiding, well you didn't did you, but he did, why didn't he give you back the cloak?'

'I have another one, the one you've got is old and been in the family for a long time. So I thought you should have that one.'

'Do you know how old the cloak is dad?'

'No, a couple of hundred years at least, why?'

'It's a lot older than that. Have you ever heard of the deathly hallows?'

'No, I haven't.'

'Three items, the cloak of invisibility, the resurrection stone and the elder wand, does that mean anything to you?'

'No, but I have heard of the elder wand, it's legendary.'

'That was the wand I handed to McGonagall, I own the elder wand, but I don't want to keep it. Do you know your family history?'

'Some Harry, I know it's been pureblood all the way through the centuries.'

'Have you heard of Ignotus Peverrel?'

'Yes, I heard he was an ancestor, don't know much about him though.'

'Okay, then this might shock you a bit. But do you know the story of the Three Brothers in the Tales of Beadle the Bard?'

'Of course I do, my mother read me those stories as a kid, I loved Babbity Rabbit.'

'The story of the three brothers is true dad, Ignotus Peverrel is the youngest brother. The cloak was his, passed down until you left it for me. That's the reason he asked to borrow it, he'd been looking for those three items since he was a kid. The moment he saw your cloak, he knew it wasn't like other invisibility cloaks. The wand was passed down from the eldest brother, then lost for centuries until he won it from Grindlewald in their famous duel. The stone went down from the second brother until it came to a man called Marvolo Gaunt, he had the stone in a ring. Do you know that name?'

'No, who is he?'

'He was Voldemorts grandfather, Tom Marvolo Riddle was Voldemorts real name. His mother wanted him named Tom after his muggle father, Marvolo after her father and Riddle again for his father.'

'Oh shit,' James stared at his son because he realised what his son had been trying to tell him.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

'James, what is it?' Lily asked as she moved to her husband then looked at Harry.

'You're related to Voldemort,' Sirius said as he stared at Harry, 'How did you find all that out?'

'A lot of memories that he got of anyone that knew Voldemort, I think all this, the prophecy, the seer, everything is all to do with the Potters being related to him. See, I saw memories of Marvolo Gaunt, his son Morphan Gaunt and Voldemorts mother, Merepe Gaunt. They thought purebloods were the best, most important and only magical people that mattered, but they weren't evil just a bit arrogant. Merepe even seemed like a nice woman and she gave birth to that. I think it's all connected right from the first and second brother. See the first brother bragged about the unbeatable wand, got himself killed because of it, but he did use it to kill. The second brother brought back his love no matter how much it made her soul suffer, he was selfish, he ended up killing himself. But the third brother was good, he just used the cloak to stay hidden, or so the story goes. So you see what I'm getting at, the two older brothers weren't very nice men, but our ancestor was, just like we are. It was like it was meant to be, sooner or later one of the older brothers was going to have a relative who turned evil, while the younger brother was going to have a relative that turned out good. Then they would have to do battle, evil versus good. I don't believe they got those items from death, I'm not positive about that, but he thinks they were just gifted.'

Lily, James and Sirius stare at Harry in amazement, 'How did you work all that out?'

'When we were away, I had a lot of time to think, this was after I heard the story and realised it was true. Since I was staying at Hogwarts, I used to sit at the spot near the black lake. It sort of came to be a place I went when I needed to work something out. I got thinking about it again and it just made sense to me. Then when I heard the rest of the prophecy, then what the seer said, it's all connected and it came down to me and Voldemort in the end. One of us had to conquer the other, the good part of the family, versus the evil part of the family.

'I think you're right Harry and it does made perfect sense. Albus said when you put your mind to something you can always come up with a solution or the right idea. For someone of your age Harry, you are very wise and insightful.'

'Thanks dad, as for my age, well, I have never been a kid, not really. I had to grow up fast because he was always after me in one form or another. I think the moment I stepped into the magical world, I stopped being a kid. Do you know much about the things that happened to me at Hogwarts?'

'Some, but not much Harry. Albus didn't want us to find out because he thought we'd go find you.'

'Yeah,' Harry got up and faced away from the others, 'My first year I faced him, he was using a professor to kill the unicorns, it kept him alive. Firenze, one of the centaurs saved me that night. Then I went to stop Snape getting the philosophers stone, but it wasn't Snape, it was Quirrell. Voldemort told him to get me, but the moment he touched me, it hurt Quirrel, so I killed him. I actually found it easy, even for eleven. I woke up in the hospital wing with him sitting on my bed, he said I almost died and it wasn't the last time that almost happened. You got any Firewhiskey around here?'

'Yes, of course,' James went over to a cabinet, poured them all a glass, handing them out, Harry knocked his straight down, 'Do you want another one Harry?'

'No I'm fine, thanks,' Harry still kept his back to his parents and Sirius and continued about his life at Hogwarts, how every year he almost died, sometimes more than once. When Harry explained about the chamber of secrets and Ginny, he noticed his mother had tears falling down her face.

'So if Fawkes never turned up, you and Ginny could have died?'

'Yeah, and Tom Riddle would have been alive. So many times I could have died.

James got up and poured another drink, handing it to Harry, 'Enough, it's been too much, we said we'd take this slow, so enough.'

'Yeah, but that was my life dad,' Harry knocked back the drink, 'Everything has been too much for me. Anyway, I might take a nap, I'm tired.'

'Do you want us to wake you up for dinner sweetheart?' Lily asked and everyone heard how choked up she sounded.

'Yeah, if I'm still asleep, thanks,' Harry tried to smile before heading to his room.

Lily completely broke down in tears, James put his arms around her, Sirius looked completely shocked, but he made him see Harry in a whole new life.

'I never heard any of that when I saw Harry, not from him, not from anyone.'

'Harry's suffering and he doesn't even realise it. I think that's why he was so bad with Albus. Maybe this party will be good for him, he will be able to enjoy being with people he cares about with no danger.'

'We'll get Harry to start on the guest list after dinner. I want him to stay here for as long as he can James, he needs us.'

'I agree Lily, but we can't pressure him into it. It has to be his decision so we'll make sure he knows he can stay but without pressure. After the pictures tomorrow, bring them down to the shop, we should keep his mind off the things that's happened to him. Let him heal his mind and heart before he deals with all that.'

'It's a good idea, we'll do what we can to help him through this. But I might head home and be back for dinner, I need to think,' Sirius gave James and Lily a hug then left.

'I'm going to check on him,' Lily walked slowly up the stairs and into her son's room. She saw his breathing was even and he looked peaceful. She stood there staring down at his face, then noticed he never had a shirt on. Lily felt the tears falling down her face as she finally noticed all the scars and marks over Harry's chest, stomach and arms. She quietly left the room and went back down to her husband. 'Oh James, you should see the scars on him, he must have suffered. Did we do the right thing James, did we do what was best for our son?'

'Yes, we did Lily. We know he suffered, but if he didn't go through that he would have died. All of us would have and whoever was left alive would have suffered forever. Albus said Harry went through all that, the pain, the suffering, it helped him get through everything Voldemort put him through, it made him strong, resourceful, going and doing what he had to without thinking about us.'

'I know, but if you saw him James, how he must have suffered. When Harry and you were talking about what happened to him as a child, Sirius and I were listening. I didn't want him to know we'd overheard that.'

'I noticed your eyes looked a little red, but just think Lily, it's over, Harry survived and we are together.'

'Yes we are James, but I wanted to ask you something. Harry asked about why we never had more kids, it got me thinking.'

'About having one now Lil, I thought of that myself. You know I always wanted more, but I'm worried about how Harry would take it. One way it might be good for him to have a brother or sister even with the age difference, but in another way he might feel we are replacing him. I don't know Lil, I just don't want to see our son hurt anymore or go through anything else. So we've got a bit of time, let's see how Harry goes over the next few months, then we'll talk to him about it, see how he would feels?'

'Okay, it's a good idea,' Lily hugged James then lifted her head, 'Did you hear something?'

'Sounds like moaning, someone in pain, let's check Harry,' James and Lily hurried up the stairs and the noise was coming from Harry's room. They opened the door and saw him thrashing around on the bed, moaning some words they couldn't work out. James sat beside his son then firmly put his hands on Harry's shoulder which stopped his movements, 'Harry, wake up son.'

'No, no, no, no, Sirius, no, you can't, no.'

'Harry, son, come on, wake up,' James shook Harry gently, he didn't want to scare him.

Harry's eyes flew opened and looked around, 'Dad, what's going on?'

'You were dreaming, we thought we should wake up.'

Harry nodded then sat up, 'Yeah, I have them quite a lot, I have to remember the silencing charm or you'll never get a lot of sleep, until I get my own place.'

'There's no hurry, we like having you here. Take your time while you've got time and really, you don't need the silencing charm. We're your parents, let us help you get over these.'

'Dad, sometimes they get very loud and violent, you don't need to hear that. Um, mum, I need to get up and I don't have anything on, do you mind?'

'I'll let you dress,' Lily kissed Harry's cheek then left the room.

'You're mother came in to check on you before, then she watched you sleep. She saw these,' James nodded to Harry's chest and stomach.

'Yeah, well, there's a lot more and since you're a bloke and my father, I don't mind you seeing them. Some are from what we talked about.'

James nodded then stood up, Harry got out of bed and he stared at the scares that covered his son's body.

'I want to kill that bastard Harry, because I can tell which ones were healed by muggles.'

'It's fine dad,' Harry pulled his jeans on, then his shirt, 'I don't want you getting into trouble, but please don't tell anyone about these?'

'I won't, that's a promise. I need to ask you something about Albus.'

'Okay, what about him?'

'Since you know why he did this, can you talk to him, maybe forgive him? He really was trying to give you, us and Sirius a chance to live and help save our world. It was a big responsibility to take on but he did.'

'I've been thinking about it, maybe, I just need more time. I think after seeing me dad, you can understand why. I could have had a normal life with you and mum, but I got abused, badly, then add Voldemort on top of that. I don't know, but I know there's been times I wished I died instead of going through that. When I walked up to him, thinking I was going to die, at first I was scared. But when I looked at him I realised I was going to join Sirius, join you and mum. I was out cold, saw and spoke with Dumbledore. You know he gave me a chance to go on or go back, I really considered going on, I just hoped everyone else made it.'

'What changed your mind?'

'Basically the prophecy, we were both still technically alive, one of us still had to kill the other, properly. But it was something else as well, something Dumbledore has said countless times, decide whether to do what was right or what was easy, I chose what was right and came back.'

'That's what Hermione meant about thinking you were dead.'

'Yeah, he hit me with the killing curse,' Harry pointed to his shoulder, 'Then decided to have some fun,' Harry pointed to other parts of his body, 'Hagrid carried me back,' Harry looked into his father's face, 'I really wanted to die, sometimes I still do.'

James nodded, then put his arms around his son and held him tight. The nightmare brought back how much pain he'd been in when he lost Sirius. Even though Harry was only young, maybe Sirius was the one to help Harry through this. He wanted to help his son and was determined to do all he could, no matter how much time it took. His son was very emotionally traumatised, he needed help, but he already knew Harry was not the type to ask, he would put up with it like he'd put up with everything else in his life. But James was going to help, help give Harry a life where he can be happy.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen

While Lily kept Harry occupied with the list for the party, James spoke quietly to Sirius about Harry's nightmare and what he had said. He noticed instantly that Sirius cared for Harry and if he was right, he realise it was more than just as his godfather. After that the four of them sat down to talk, but James was adamant, he wouldn't allow Harry to talk about Voldemort or what he'd been through with the Dursleys. He said that Harry needed time to heal first, not just physical, but emotional. Harry was a little unsure and didn't seem to know what to say, his life was all about Voldemort and the Dursleys. So Harry mainly asked his parents about their life and also more about the Potters, Harry was starting to get a glimpse of his parent's lives. They had a nice dinner with Sirius and when Harry and Lily were talking, Sirius gave James a nod.

'Harry, you've spent the last two nights here, we love having you and want you to live with us forever, which we know won't happen. You're slowly getting to know us, but you haven't spent any time alone with Sirius. So why don't you stay with Sirius tonight and come back in the morning? I'm sure Sirius would love to spend time with you as well.'

'I would love it, since we've been back, I've had to be careful what I say, Lily would hex me.'

'Um, yeah, I would like to Sirius, if you're sure,' Harry said and he tried to keep his voice calm, but he wasn't sure if the others heard how nervous he sounded.

'That settles it, so since it's early enough, go with Sirius and have a good time, get reacquainted.'

Harry looked at his mother, 'Are you okay with this?'

'You're a grown man now Harry, you don't need our permission. You're father and I just want you to be happy.'

'Okay, thanks.'

'Go get some clothes Harry,' Sirius said then watched as he walked up the stairs, 'I want this James, I won't hurt him, you know that. But no one can guarantee what will happen in the future.'

'I know Sirius, I also know you wouldn't hurt him. Just take it easy especially when you explain you know how he feels.'

'Yeah, I think I'm more nervous about that than anything else.'

'Okay, I'm ready. But I'll be back first thing in the morning,' Harry bent over and kissed his mother's cheek then his father's cheek as well.

'Just have a good time,' Lily and James watched as Sirius took Harry's arm and apparated them away, 'Let's hope Sirius is what will help Harry through this.'

'I'm sure he will Lil, but did you see what Harry did, first he made sure it was alright with you, then he kissed both of us. He's showing he wants to be part of our family and he's acting like a son, not an independent young man.'

'I think he's seeing what he's life can be like now James, he's feeling his family and accepting this, accepting us, and doing it faster than I thought possible.'

'He wants it Lily, he just can't say it,' James and Lily smiled before the cleaned up the kitchen before heading to bed.

Harry was staring around a large living room, he saw Sirius watching him and for some reason Harry didn't know what to say.

'Let's have a drink and talk, it's been a few years,' Sirius gave Harry a reassuring smile then poured two drinks, handing one to Harry then they both sat. Sirius watched Harry and as he took a drink, he's hand shook a little, 'Harry, there's something important I want to talk to you about.'

'Is there something wrong Sirius?'

'No, it's right, well I hope it's right. The last couple of days I've been doing a lot of thinking and I've realised something. You asked me if I ever wanted to settle down, into a relationship instead of what I normally do, just have the odd fling. Well, I realised I do, I want what other people do, what Lily and James have.'

Harry swallowed over the lump that came to his throat, 'Okay, you should, I'm sure you'll find someone.'

'That's the thing, I think I have found someone. I only recently found out he likes me more than I thought.'

'Oh,' Harry downed the rest of his drink then stood up and walked over to the glass door, staring out at the darkness, 'I'm sure you'll be happy.'

Sirius slowly got up, he'd seen Harry's face fall which told him everything he needed. He stepped right up behind Harry, not touching, but as close as he could get.

'Do you want to know who it is?' Sirius said softly into Harry's ear and saw him shiver.

'It's your business Sirius, nothing to do with me,' Harry knew that came out a little harsh but he just couldn't help himself.

'Well I think it is your business,' Sirius moved until he was standing in front of Harry, then ran the tip of his finger down his cheek then along his jaw, 'If you don't get the hint then I'll tell you,' Sirius' finger moved over Harry's bottom lip and smiled when they parted, 'Are you understanding Harry?'

Harry swallowed again but couldn't seem to find his voice, he swallowed again, then again before he tried to speak.

'Why?' Harry squeaked and cleared his throat a couple of times but noticed Sirius grinned, 'I don't understand Sirius.'

Sirius gently cupped Harry's face, 'I think you do,' he leaned in and brushed his lips across Harry's, 'This is what I want, this is what you want.'

'How did you know?'

'Don't get upset, but your dad worked it out. I've never been any good at reading people, I don't see feelings in people, not that type. Another thing why I never picked up on anything, I used to believe you thought of me as a father or father figure since you never knew James. Then when I heard you were gay, I figured that's what it must mean, I never saw you give me any type of look, at fifteen, if you did, I think I would have noticed. Boys or young men can't really control that. So since James said something to me, I've been thinking about us, if this could work and I realise I want it to. Now I'm sure you know like anyone that you can't give a guarantee on how this might turn out, I just want you to know I would like to try.'

Harry swallowed again, 'That's when I worked it out, I was away with Hermione and Ron, most nights I would lie away thinking, but you kept invading my thoughts and I really needed to focus on what we were doing. I finally decided to work out what it meant, why I couldn't stop thinking of you. I never had parents Sirius, I wasn't sure if what I was feeling was normal or not. When you died, or I thought you died, I was so broken, I wanted to go with you. I actually thought about it a few times and if it wasn't for Luna I think I would have. So while I had time, I thought about the times I was with Ginny, then all the times I used to watch you. Those nights I would curl up in your bed, the times I didn't want to leave. I finally worked it out, that I felt more for you than just a godfather, so I knew I was gay. But dad, why would he be okay with this?'

'All he wants is you to be happy, so does Lily. We spoke a bit about it when you went to slept. The one thing was age, now we've all noticed you don't act like your age, you actually act like my age. Then we realised age shouldn't come into feelings, into a relationship as long as we're both adults. All your parents wanted were for me to work out my feelings and not say anything to you until I did. They didn't want to see you hurt and I definitely didn't want to hurt you. Yesterday, last night in bed, today, all I did was think about you, about us and that's when I realised I did want us to be together.'

Harry nodded but lowered his head, 'When I was away and realised all this, I realised something else.'

Sirius put his finger under Harry's chin and made him look up, 'Tell me what you realised?'

'That I…I,' Harry chewed on his lip.

'That you love me,' Sirius finished Harry's sentence, then he nodded, 'Yes, I know I care deeply for you, the love I felt for you I'm still confused about, so I do need time to work that out. I wasn't sure about saying anything to you until I did, but I just couldn't take the pain you're in anymore. You don't realise it Harry, but you are suffering, you're traumatised by everything you've been through. So I want this, I do want you and I want all of it that's involved, just give me time to work out the feelings part of this.'

'I can do that, but you said all that's involved, I should tell you that I've never…,' Harry shrugged.

'I know, you've been a bit busy.'

'It's more than that Sirius. Today, when you said that about the dragon, I had to escape because something happened that's never happened before.'

'Oh, okay, now I get why you rushed off. But you're nearly eighteen, boys usually take care of themselves until they find someone. They start doing that when their young.'

'I've heard the others talking about it, or doing it, can't help it when you share rooms and share a bathroom. It's lucky we never really spoke about it, we all had other things on our minds. Does that mean something's wrong with me?'

'No, there's nothing wrong with you, it's your life, what you've been doing and thinking about since you turned eleven. Blimey Harry, if I had your life, I wouldn't have wanked off either, I probably wouldn't have gotten a fat. But you said it happened, so that tells you it works fine.'

'Sirius,' Harry blushed and lowered his head again.

'This is the only time you've acted your age, but you'll be fine Harry, you might finish quick, but it'll be okay. Do you know anything about sex?'

'No, I never had time, like you said.'

'Then we need to talk more about this because you need a bit of education about it. But I found the best education is doing while we talk. We don't have to have sex right now Harry, that will be your call. But there are a few things I should tell you and show you. First is showing me that cute body of yours, not to mention your arse.'

'Sirius,' Harry's eyes widen but Sirius laughed, 'It's not funny, it's embarrassing.'

'Yes, it will be for you until you get used to it. One thing you should know about me Harry. In the bedroom, I take control and I want you naked all the time. You do what I say, when I say.'

'Sounds like you're a bit of a control freak. You do realise I'm used to being in control, being the one to tell the others what to do, that I do what I want when I want.'

'I know, but not in our bedroom, that control belongs to me, it just won't be yet. So the first thing we do is just to get you comfortable, you have a shower but you're not to dress after. We'll lie in bed together, talk, touch a little until you're comfortable. So give me your hand my young lover, we've got a lot of lessons to get through.'

Harry blushed again, but he couldn't help smiling, so he placed his hand in Sirius' and was surprised when Sirius pulled him suddenly to him then their lips were joined, their tongues were moving and tasting, Harry groaned loudly and felt his body react and heat up, the heat went straight to his groin.

'There, that just gave you a small taste Harry,' Sirius smirked because he felt Harry's bulge against him, then he pulled Harry towards the stairs, up into the bedroom and over to the bathroom, 'So shower, then come in here, I'll be waiting in bed for you.'

Harry swallowed again then looked down, 'Sirius, I,' Harry shook his head.

'I know you're embarrassed, we all are at first, you'll get used to it.'

'It's not that, I want to, it's…it's,' Harry sighed, 'I showed dad, but no one has ever seen me with my shirt off.'

'Oh, okay, you're scars, James mentioned them, not anything else, just that you had some,' Sirius stepped closer to Harry and slowly unbuttoned his shirt, he noticed Harry was shaking, just a little, but enough, 'They won't worry me Harry,' Sirius said softly then pushed Harry's shirt off his shoulders and then his arms, throwing the shirt over onto a chair. He stood staring at Harry's chest and stomach, even his arms, he reached out and Harry flinched, taking a step back, 'I'm not going to hurt you, you should know me well enough to realise that.'

'Being touched usually means pain, that's the only time I've been touched, like this I mean, no shirt, it's usually painful.'

'That was the past, you won't feel any pain from me, sex is a little uncomfortable, but that all, I would never hurt you, in any way. Let me touch you and you will see Harry, no more pain,' Sirius put his finger under Harry's chin until they were looking into each other's eyes, 'Let me touch you,' he whispered and saw Harry nod, 'Good,' he smiled, kissed Harry's lips then ran his finger down one of his scars, then another, 'See, it doesn't hurt you baby, I could never hurt you.'

'It feels nice.' Harry watched Sirius' finger trace over every scar that covered his front.

'Now that you know these do not worry me and you've also seen that there's no pain, go shower, then come join me in bed,' Sirius could see Harry was still nervous, so he pulled Harry towards the bathroom, sat him down, took his glasses off, placed them on the cabinet, then took his shoes and socks off, pulled him too his feet, 'Do you want me to keep going, to undress you? I don't mind you know.'

'No, I'll do it,' Harry's voice shook but he slowly undid his jeans and pulled them off quickly but kept his face averted from Sirius'. When he stepped into the shower he noticed Sirius picking up his clothes and his glasses, 'What are you doing?'

'So you can't put them back on, meet me in bed in five minutes or I'll come back in and carry you in there,' Sirius smirked then left the bathroom, putting Harry's clothes on the chair. He stripped off, then got into bed but faced the bathroom door, he wondered just how long it would take Harry, ten minutes, fifteen, because he knew it would be a lot longer than five.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter sixteen

When the time reached twenty minutes, Sirius called out, 'Harry, move that arse or I'll come and get you.'

Harry chewed his lip again but slowly turned the water off, stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and dried, normally he used a drying charm, but Sirius took his clothes which means his wand as well. He wrapped the towel around himself and took a couple of deep breathes then opened the door.

'Took you look enough,' Sirius smirked, 'Come on, off with the towel and get in here.'

'You're not making this easy on me are you Sirius?'

'No, because the quicker you do this, the easier it will be and you'll relax as well. You'll be covered in here, now move.'

Harry sighed, then quickly pulled the towel off and climbed under the covers, then he stared at the ceiling, but within seconds Sirius was leaning over him.

'Breathe and relax Harry,' Sirius put his hand to Harry's chest, 'This is to just get you comfortable being beside another naked man.'

'I know and I get it, it's just harder to do than I thought, even if I want to.'

Sirius picked up Harry's hand and placed it on his chest, 'Just touch me here, when you're comfortable, move your hand anywhere you want it to go.'

'I know it's been a while for you Sirius so you probably don't remember. Because I've never done anything, it's not that easy. I really want this, want you and normally I'm not nervous, about anything, this is just so different from anything I've done before.'

'I know and yes, it has been a long time. But I will never forget my first time, blimey that was terrible and you know why?'

'No, so tell me.'

'Because we were both new at it, so it was awkward, embarrassing and very messy, neither of us could control ourselves and it took a while before we tried again,' Sirius slipped his hand down Harry's stomach and heard him suck in a sharp breath, 'When you cum, we'll clean up and keep going,' Sirius wrapped his hand around Harry's already hard erection, 'Nice size there baby,' Sirius grinned as Harry blushed brightly, 'Now tell me how this feels,' he slowly moved his hand up and down, he kept it gentle and slow.

'Fine,' Harry squeaked, making him blush, so he cleared his throat, 'Good, fine, um, really good, oh blimey.'

'See, you're feeling it, but I want you to kiss me,' Sirius could see and feel Harry was losing it quickly, but he did move and start to kiss him. Sirius kept his hand going, he got a little faster, squeezing just that little bit more as his other hand held the back of Harry's head because he knew what was about to happen. He kicked the blankets off, his hand got faster and it happened, Harry groaned against his mouth and Sirius felt Harry's cum over his hand, he never stopped kissing Harry or moving his hand until he felt Harry start to grow again, then he finally released him and moved his lips away, 'There, that should make you feel a little better. Did you cum earlier today?'

Harry nodded, 'Yeah, couldn't stop it, just like now. That's hard to get used too, I hate not being in control.'

'I know but get used to it especially in here.' Sirius grabbed his wand and flicked it until they were clean, 'Do you know that I'm going to make you cum a few more times, then you'll be more relaxed before I make you do some things to me, even make me cum with your hand.'

'Blimey,' Harry chewed his lip, 'I really want all this, everything that's involved, but what about the actually sex part, when do we do that?'

'We'll see, let's just get you more relaxed with being naked, with cuming, with touching me, with me touching you, even a bit of mouth action,' Sirius saw Harry's cock twitch and within another few seconds he was rock hard again, 'Oh you like that baby.'

'Sirius, stop it.' Harry blushed again.

'See, this is what I'm talking about, a couple of words and you're embarrassed and blushing. I don't want that, I want you hard, I want you bold, I want you to touch me without thinking, to be so turned on that you take control. You said you're used to being the one to control what's going on, to lead, that's how I want you to be with me. Once you're that comfortable, then you'll see how good this will be, how much fun, how enjoyable making love is. Because we're not just going to have sex Harry, we are going to make love to each other in every way there is. Now you know, get ready baby,' Sirius smirked then slowly moved down the bed, he kept his eyes on Harry before he slowly, slower than Sirius had ever moved before. He moved his mouth till it just hovered over Harry's member, then licked the top, which made Harry's hips buck and he groaned. Sirius licked again before taking Harry's whole length into his mouth until it was hitting the back of Sirius' throat.

At the Potter home, Lily heard the door and greeted her guests, 'Hermione, Ginny, Ron, it's good to see you again,' Lily said cheerfully, 'Come in please.'

The three friends stepped into the house, 'Hello Mrs. Potter,' Hermione smiled, 'where's Harry?'

'Running late, I'll just send my patronus and let them know you're here and on time. Why don't you three sit while we wait for Sirius and Harry,' Lily flicked his wand and her patronus erupted from the end.

'A doe, like Harry told us,' Ron said.

'Yes, the mate for James' stag, but you're probably wondering why Harry isn't here. We thought Sirius and Harry could do with some time alone.'

'Harry cares for Sirius, he missed him so,' Hermione said sadly.

'Yes, we know, that's why we thought they should have some time to themselves. So while we're waiting let's have some tea. But you all look very nice, those photos will be great, once I get Harry to dress nicely,' Lily heard the three of them snicker as she turned, so she turned back, 'Yes, I do realise his stubborn, he gets that from James,' Lily laughed then went into the kitchen while Hermione, Ron and Ginny looked around at Harry's parent's home.

'These are beautiful pictures Mrs. Potter, did you take them?' Ginny asked.

Lily came back with the tray, 'Yes I did, as you can see, some are at Hogwarts. We explained to Harry that Albus would let us use polyjuice potion so we could watch Harry through the years. Most of these I was a muggle girl, but dressed as a Ravenclaw. I would pretend to be taking pictures of other students, the castle, or the black lake, but I was really watching Harry. We saw you two play quidditch with Harry, you're both very good. Hermione, you don't play?'

'I don't like to fly, I like to read.'

'Harry mentioned that you're very smart and that you helped him get through his O.W.L.s, was he having that much trouble?'

'It wasn't really that, he knew the work, it was everything that was going on with Umbridge, what he was feeling from Voldemort. All that made it hard for Harry to concentrate on his work.'

'Yes, Harry started to tell us about what he'd been through. He was so traumatised by everything that James refused to let him say anything more. Oh I think I hear them, they sound happy,' Lily and the others looked towards the back. Harry and Sirius were laughing loudly and had their arms around each other, 'Well, looks like you two had a good time together.'

Harry and Sirius laughed again, 'Oh we sure did mum, more than you know,' Harry growled.

'He's coming around Lily, you might have to get used to this. But I have to say that Harry is very inventive, with everything.'

'I had a good teacher,' Harry grinned then faced his friends before giving his mum a big hug, 'Missed you mum,' he kissed her cheek then surprised his friends by hugging and kissing them, he ever kissed Ron on the head, 'My friends.'

'Blimey, what's gotten into you and why did you kiss me, you know I'm not gay right?' Ron asked.

'I know, but I do love my friends, I wanted to kiss you. As for what's going on,' Harry stepped back to Sirius and put his hands on his chest, 'We've been getting to know each other in such a good way,' Harry growled again, then pulled Sirius's face to him and kissed him.

'James worked it out that Harry liked Sirius and it was more than as a godfather, so they spent the night together. But Sirius, you were supposed to talk to Harry, explain about all this and how you found out how he felt, not fuck my son, at least not yet. That was a bit quick don't you think?'

Harry and Sirius's lips parted and they both stared at Lily, 'Sorry mum, Sirius actually left that to me, but after the things he was saying and doing, I just attacked him.'

'Yes, he took my job, the bedroom Harry, I'm in control, remember that next time or you will be punished.'

'Oh,' Harry grinned, 'sounds interesting lover,' Harry turned back to his friends, 'They looked shocked, it was sex, a lot of it and absolutely fabulous, not to mention very uncomfortable, at first anyway.'

'Um, first to hear your mum say that word, then sex, you and Sirius had sex,' Ginny said.

'We had a lot of sex,' Sirius said, 'As for Lily, oh she lets loose quite often, that mouth of hers is quite rude sometimes, James loves it. But as for the sex Lil, I did leave it up to Harry and we did talk, I talked a lot first and explained just like I said. Anyway, James, is he at the shop?'

'Yes, been there for a few hours. Now Harry, you need to change so I can get these pictures. So can you please wear something other than jeans?'

'For my mother, anything,' Harry said cheerfully, kissed and hugged his mother, 'Be right back baby,' he said to Sirius then ran up the stairs.

'We were right Sirius, we knew it was you he needed. He seems so happy, so alive.'

'Oh he's alive and insatiable, once he started he wouldn't stop. You should have seen him to start with. I took his clothes while he was in the shower, so he had no choice but to wear a towel. Finally we got rid of that and he was blushing, it was so cute. My mouth got him over that in a hurry.'

'Sirius,' Hermione blushed as her eyes went wide, Ron's mouth dropped open and Ginny giggled.

'That's what we do Hermione, and since Harry has started, he doesn't care what he says or does either. Oh here come's my man now,' Sirius grinned wickedly, 'I'd rather you naked though.'

'Later, I do have to dress sometime baby.'

'And dress you did, those are very nice clothes, thank you for that Harry.'

'Anything for you mum,' Harry hugged her again, 'So what do you three think?'

'I think you look good Harry,' Ginny smiled.

'Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen you wear anything like that before,' Ron said still looking a little shocked.

'You look very nice,' Hermione said.

'Since you are doing these pictures mum, I want one of me and Sirius. But when are we doing the one with the three of us.'

'After your father gets home,' Lily flicked her wand and a large blue screen covered one wall, 'Stand there by yourself Harry, let me take a couple of shots,' Lily picked up her camera as Harry moved in front of the screen, 'What a nice smile, so like James,' Lily took a couple of pictures, 'Turn slightly,' she took some more, 'Side on now, but look at me,' she took a couple more, 'Just move around I'll just keep taking shots,' she smiled as Harry moved every way he could, he smiled, he looked serious, thoughtful, sexy especially when he glanced at Sirius, 'Okay, Sirius next to Harry, but try to keep it decent and hands off the family jewels, both of you.'

'I think we can, for a minute,' Sirius said then stood next to Harry and before he knew what was going to happen, Sirius had him bent backward and was slowly moving towards Harry, their lips were just apart.

'Great, kept moving,' Lily said then she never stopped taking photos, 'Okay, enough, you two don't want to go too far.'

Harry kissed Sirius again before turning back to his mother, 'That was fun, I never realised having your picture taken could be so enjoyable.'

'Think about those other times Harry, it was usually after fighting,' Ron shrugged.

'True, this is good and now I can have some pictures with my friends and my parents and my lover.'

'Well if Hermione and Ron are ready, we'll start with the golden trio, then put Ginny in as well, so up you two get,' Lily smiled and waited, she noticed that Hermione automatically stood in the centre, 'Very nice, but arms around each other to start with,' she started taking photo's but noticed that Ron was a little stiff and Hermione looked slightly embarrassed, 'Maybe talk, loosen up a bit and try to smile naturally,' she kept taking pictures until they finally relaxed, 'Great, I got some good shots, Ginny, you next to Harry, that way there's not two red heads together, we'll have a ginger, a brunet, a black and another ginger,' Harry automatically put his arm around Ginny and they all smiled again, sometimes glanced at each other, or looking around, 'Great,' Lily smiled, 'You can relax now.'

'That was actually better than I thought, I felt awkward at first, you're mum's really good Harry,' Ron grinned.

'Yeah, she is, she made us all feel comfortable. Maybe that's why she's such a good photographer.'

'Thank you,' Lily grinned and kissed Harry's forehead. Then Lily got everyone a cold drink then they all sat and talked, but Harry was sitting on Sirius' lap, which made Lily watch them carefully so they would behave. Both Sirius and Harry laughed because they realised what Lily was doing, so they kept it decent and just talking to Hermione, Ron and Ginny.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen

After Hermione, Ron and Ginny left, Lily went into to her work room to develop the pictures, Harry and Sirius walked slowly down to the town of Godric's Hollow. Harry got smiles from some people, magical people since the muggles wouldn't have a clue at who Harry was. Then Sirius led him into James' shop.

'Hi, so what do you think son?' James grinned as he saw the happy look on his son's face.

'Looks good, it has a lot of old furniture. Like I said, I don't know much about antiques. But this is the type of furniture I would like to have in my home one day. You know, this would look nice with a pensieve in it. I wouldn't mind owning one.' Harry ran his finger along a deep mahogany side cabinet.

'There's a few around that are for pensieves, I have a couple in the back, they still need restoring. Want to come have a look? If you like one, you can have it. I can keep it here until you get your own place and speaking for your mother and I, we hope that's not for a while.'

'I want to stay with you for a while, sometimes with Sirius, but I'll have a look dad.' Harry, James and Sirius went into the back of the shop and looked around, 'This is beautiful, the pensieve in Dumbledore's office would look nice in this. He has it in this stone one with runes all around it.'

'This is over four hundred years old Harry, as you can see though, it needs work.'

'I'd like to see how you do it. Turn all this old and sorry, but crappy looking furniture into the way they look in the front of the shop.'

'Anytime you want to come down, I can show you. It's hard work, done without magic, but it is very satisfying.'

'Why can't you use magic?'

'You can, but I find it better to do it by hand and it's very calming work. Sometimes I will start with magic, but I always finish with my hands.'

'I sort of get that, I would get calm and was able to concentrate on Voldemort when I was training with the training wizard in the room of requirement, well, until Ginny disintegrated it.'

'I never used a training wizard, I practiced with your mother, Sirius of course but mostly with Albus. I knew he was powerful, but I was able to hold my own, it always kept me calm and relaxed.'

'You duelled Dumbledore?'

'Yes, when he first put the order of the phoenix together, a few of us were good, but none of us had ever duelled properly.'

'I never duelled Dumbledore, but I did see him and Voldemort got at it, right before he possessed me,' Harry rotated his neck.

James stepped over to Harry, put his hand on his son's shoulder, 'No, I said no talking about any of that. You seem happy since you've come back with Sirius, but you still need time, you're heart, soul, and mind all need time away from that before you can start to heal.'

'Yeah, I get it. When I was with Sirius last night, I thought about that and you are right. But that's been my life, there isn't much more to me than all that.'

'We know baby, you need to put him out of your mind, for a while. Now I'm going to help with that, help a lot with that,' Sirius smirked making Harry grin.

'I like the sound of that,' Harry put his arm around Sirius but squeezed his arse.

'Why don't I close up the shop and the three of us have some lunch at the pub?'

'Sounds good,' Harry said then followed his father out of the shop, but kept his arm around Sirius and still on his arse, but Sirius did the same with Harry. The three men stepped into the pub and the place fell silent as all eyes turned to Harry. James just led them over to a booth and they sat down.

'Is that what you meant about the staring Harry?' James asked as he looked around.

'Yep, everywhere I go it's like that. I just try to ignore it.'

'That's a good idea, so let's order and we can enjoy our time together,' James got the waitress attention then they ordered.

'Do you still fly dad?'

'I get up occasionally, but your mother never liked to fly, so I really didn't have anyone to fly with. Maybe we could go up sometime?'

'Yeah, I'd like that, but didn't you fly with dad Sirius? I know Remus didn't.'

'No, I do like to fly, but your father is just too good, like you. Even if it's just a friendly fly, your father can't let go of that competitive edge.'

The waitress bought over their lunch, so they ate while they talked and the conversation never stopped. Harry and James talked quidditch a lot, since they both played. Harry explained about what happened at the quidditch world cup, seeing Ireland win, about the death eaters attacking, what they saw and about how Harry's wand was used to send the dark mark into the sky by Crouch Jr. As they walked back to the shop, James couldn't believe the change in Harry already, he gave Sirius a smile before saying goodbye to them, before stepped back into his shop.

When they stepped into the house, Harry nor Sirius could see Lily and realised she was working on the photos, so Harry pulled Sirius up the stairs and into his room.

Lily was in the kitchen getting dinner ready when James slipped his arms around her waist, then started to kiss her neck making her giggle.

'A mother that giggles, I wasn't expecting that,' Harry laughed with Sirius as James and Lily jumped apart, 'Didn't mean to interrupt.'

James shook his head, 'You just startled us, that's all. So have you two been up in Harry's room all this time?'

'Yep,' Sirius said before he sat down next to Harry, 'Like I told your wife James, your son is insatiable.'

'Not something I really need to know.'

'He sounds like you James,' Lily smirked.

'Ah, that's where I get it from, well, apart from not getting enough of Sirius.'

'You get enough baby, since we started I don't think I've been sore in years.'

'Sorry Sirius, I seem to go a bit hard on you, don't I?'

'Yes, but I do get it. You've lusted after me for years, not you've finally got me.'

Harry, Lily and James laughed, 'So Sirius, how was Harry when you told him you knew?'

'Stuttering, blushing, trying to talk and couldn't. You should have seen him when I made him get naked.'

'Alright, I wasn't that bad. You know why I was worried about being naked, it had nothing to do with what we were going to do.'

'Yeah, your scars, I get it, but they don't worry me, as you saw I have a few of my own, nothing on you of course. Then it was touching you, I can't believe how you looked when I did go to touch you.'

'Why,' Lily turned from what she was doing to stare at her son.

Sirius could tell Harry was a little awkward, 'He'd never been touched without a shirt on unless it meant pain. He actually flinched and stepped back away from me when I went to touch his chest.'

'Harry showed me after you left the room, so I do get that. But as we said, we're not talking about any of that. It does seem that you got over that Harry, Sirius is always touching you now, just like you are with him.'

'I love his touch,' Harry said softly as he stared at Sirius before he looked back at his parents, 'You're really okay with us being together?'

'As long as you're happy Harry, that's all we want and if Sirius is the one you want, then we're fine.'

'Thanks, because I do want Sirius,' Harry smiled at his parents before facing Sirius, 'I love him.'

'We know,' James sat next to his son, 'I could see it. Some of the looks you were giving him reminded me so much of the way I used to look at Lily before we started dating. That was the first clue, seeing those looks, then the way you kept touching him, it all made sense.'

'Sirius explained that, I never realised I was doing any of that. But I'm glad you did dad, we're together now. As Sirius said, he's still working on his feelings, but he knows he wants us to be together.'

'Going on the looks Sirius was giving you at lunch, I think their more than he's realised. He's life has been about casual sex for so long, it'll take him a while to realise. But my gorgeous wife has dinner ready and I'm starving. I'm sure you two have built up huge appetites.'

'Oh we have Prongs,' Sirius smirked at Harry making him laugh, then they all started eating and again the conversation never stopped. After dinner, Lily took Harry's hand and led him back into the living room.

'What do you think,' she had spread all the photos over screen.

'Wow, these are great mum,' Harry stared at all the pictures, then the one of him with Sirius, 'This looks good,' Harry ran his finger along the picture of Sirius.

'I've made you a couple of small copies so you can have them with you. But this big one is going in here,' Lily flicked her wand and position the large picture of Harry and Sirius on the wall then flicked her wand to permanently stick the picture to the wall.

'If you want to see me gazing at Sirius all the time, it's up to you.'

'I can see the love you have for him Harry, it's sweet.'

'They all look great Lily,' James slipped his arms around his wife again but noticed a look that came to his son's face, 'Something wrong Harry?'

'Sorry, but I was thinking about some of the things I'd seen through Voldemorts eyes. I look at all these, happy smiling faces, friends, lovers, family. He destroyed so many and I saw some of those. One day when I was away with Hermione and Ron, I collapsed onto the ground with the pain just as I started to see what he was doing. He needed answers, about the wand, he went to see this woman, I couldn't understand what she was saying, she was foreign. Finally I heard her tell him she didn't know where he was, he'd gone, a long time ago, something like that anyway. These two little kids were behind her, they were scared, crying, she kept her arms back, keeping them there. I could see the fear on her face, not for her, but for her kids. Little things they were, about five, not sure really. Do you know what he did?'

'No, but since you brought this up, and it sounds like you want to talk, tell us,' James said but could see the pain on his son's face and even though he knew Harry should take time, he started talking and it looked like he needed to.

'When he realised she didn't know where Gregorovitch was, he raised his wand and killed them. He didn't look angry, he looked like he was doing a simple spell, like it meant nothing and to him taking a life, killing, it was nothing. She fell first, then the kids, their eyes were blank, he took that away, their life, their souls, their life force, it was gone in a blink of an eye. When he killed or tortured, I felt it, like it was me doing it, but it was more, I could feel their pain, their fear and felt that for years, felt what it was like to lose everyone close to me. I sometimes think of those kids father, grandparents, maybe they had other siblings. I see Mrs. Weasley's face when she looks at George because she's thinking of Fred, it's heartbreaking. Fred and George had so much life, they were full of energy, fun, boisterous, but very loyal friends. He destroyed so many lives, hurt so many people, they will always feel that loss, always suffer, it gets easier to live with even if you never get over that. He did that just so he could live forever, something I would never want.'

Sirius slipped his arms around Harry's waist and pulled him tight to his chest. 'Enough, this is what your father was talking about. You need time, so please Harry, give yourself time. Let's enjoy being together, enjoy your time with your parents, have fun with your friends, but stop thinking and talking about this.'

Harry tilted his head back against Sirius' shoulder, but he nodded. He's eyes stayed on the pictures, but he did hear his mother sniff. He turned and saw tears falling down her face, he realised how she was feeling, not just sorry for him, but for what he had seen and felt. Harry let Sirius go and wrapped his arms around her and before he knew it, they were crying into each other's arms.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter eighteen

Over the next week, even though Harry spent time with Sirius, he was getting to know his parents, something he had wanted to for so long. He did admit it was easier to talk to them when Sirius was with him, but they understood. Hermione, Ron and Ginny visited a lot, they even stayed one night as James and Lily wanted to see how the friends were together, and because how relaxed Harry seemed when they were with him. James, Lily and Sirius would laugh with Harry and his friend when they told stories of their times together and realised that Harry did have some good time, just not a lot of them.

Harry was sitting outside drinking a cup of tea when his father walked out and joined him.

'Listening to the sounds of the morning again Harry?' James smiled.

Harry laughed, 'Yeah, I am. Sitting here, listening to the birds waking up lets me know that it is finally over even if my mind is still on edge, waiting for something to happen. I never knew what would come next or when, so I suppose it'll take me a while to realise that nothing will.'

'I get that, especially after hearing some of the things you've done, even if it's not much. But how are you feeling, for real Harry?'

'I'm okay dad, you don't need to worry you know, even though I see the looks on your face and mum's face when you look at me. I know I'm not the normal happy young man you probably would like for a son, but I never had a normal upbringing.'

'We know, but it doesn't matter how you are Harry, we love you and one day you will be happy, but it's not going to happen straight away, it will take time. Like with everything in life, you can't rush important things.'

'I'm glad you understand, but I've been thinking about what that seer said. Could you show me, it might make it easier to understand how Dumbledore could do what he did and how you and mum agreed to leave me.'

James put his hand on Harry's arm, 'We didn't want to, I hope you realise that. But like what you were led to believe, if we had to die to save you, we would, it's the same with this. We left you so you could live, to have a life. I know you never had a good life, worse than what we thought, but you are alive and have some great friends, so you will get to have that life, you're also starting because of your relationship with Sirius. Think of us as well Harry, we had to give you up, our baby boy, then stand back and watch what you went through. We kept telling each other it was for the best, but it broke our hearts not to be with you. We basically had to stop living the life we wanted and have another life we didn't want. We always wanted to have more children, we couldn't do that, we wanted you and your siblings to have the best life we could give you. We worked hard to make sure you would never go without. There were so many plans that you're mother and I had that we couldn't do. I know we never got hurt, physically hurt, not like you, but emotionally we were in a lot of pain and that never stopped until after you killed Voldemort. Because we knew we would finally get to be with you. Even then we were worried, anxious, wondering if you would accept us, then if you did, if you would like us.'

'I do get that dad and I'm not saying you and mum never suffered. Voldemort made thousands of people suffer. I don't know how hard it would have been for you to let me go. But when I thought you were dead, I thought okay, I had great parents who were willing to do anything for me, including die even if I wished you didn't, but it showed me how much you loved me. Then I find out you were alive and have been this whole time and I felt like you deserted me, left me to the mercy of those people and Voldemort. Feelings like that won't go away, not for a while. I do love both of you, very much, but I can't stop feeling like you just didn't want me. I know you did, but that's how I feel. I've been alone my whole life, it's been hard, cruel and painful. I'm sorry if this hurts, but it's basically your fault, you, mum and Dumbledore.'

'We know and we are sorry you think that, we also know that the hurt and betrayal you feel because of us won't go away for a long time. We thought of just leaving with you, just packing up and going to another country. But we knew he'd find us, he was obsessed with stopping that prophecy. But you said it the other day Harry, it's like it was always going to come down to you, the ancestor of those three brothers. If we were here beside you, it's only natural you would turn to the adults when you were a child. I can see how, sorry for saying this, but how hard you are and it is down to how you were raised and what you went through. But it did give you the strength to go up against him time after time and survived when most people that went up against him got themselves killed. Would you sacrifice Hermione, Ron, Ginny, the Weasley's to have a happy childhood, to have us with you the whole time, could you handle them dying knowing you could have stopped it, just because you wanted a life with your parents? There's a lot to think about Harry, how all this happened, what could have happened if we didn't leave you. But with what the seer said, you're friend Hermione would have been killed, people like the Weasley's even though they are purebloods, they liked muggles and muggleborns, so they would have been killed. Take all that into consideration, then if you think them dying is worth it, then blame us. I don't think you should until you put everything in perspective.'

Harry stood listening to everything his father had said before he finally faced him. 'Alright, I'm sorry for saying it was your fault. But I feel so betrayed right now even if we are getting on. I feel like my parents that supposedly loved me were willing to leave me. So even though I'm starting to understand why you did it, it still hurts dad, I'm even hurt about Sirius, but I love him at the same time. But no, I wouldn't sacrifice my friends so I could have a normal life with you. I would have done all this the same way to save them. Shit I was willing to die for them, I'd do it again, easily. I don't want anyone to have to suffer because of him, so I would have still lived this shit life to stop that,' Harry took his father's hand, 'I'm sorry you and mum suffered as well, just give me time to take all this in?'

'You've got as much time as you want, that's why we would like you to stay here for a while. Get to know us properly, hear the things we went through, talk about all the things that is bothering you. Like I said, it's not going to be quick, it's going to take some time. But you are an adult and you are used to doing things your way, so you're mother and I leave any decision to you. You ask for time, all we ask is for a chance.'

'This is hard to admit, but I do want to stay, I need to stay. So even though I'm with Sirius and love staying with him, I want to be here with you, I like being here in my family's home with my family. I'm not used to needing anyone but right now I need you even if I don't really know you or mum, but I can see where I'm similar in ways with both of you and I'm not talking about looks. Even though I never knew anything about either of you, I do have some of your traits and that is making me feel better, knowing I get some of my good traits from my parents, it tells me you're good.'

'We want you to stay, as long as you want because this is your home. You said you're not used to needing anyone, but what about Hermione and Ron? You three were the ones that went looking for the horcruxes, that sounds like you needed them with you.'

'No, I wanted to go alone, they wouldn't let me. That's what those two are like, never letting me go through anything alone. Ron and I had our fights, which is normal, in all the times we've known each other, twice he's abandoned me, but made it up when he realised he was wrong. Hermione might disapprove of things I've said or done, but she's stuck by me from the moment we became friends. Ron will have a go back at me when I'm hurt or angry and I lash out, he won't let me get away with anything. Hermione tries to comfort me, but I see how sad she is when she finds something out that will hurt me. Between them both of them they will put aside their lives to help me just like I would for them.'

'I can see how much they love you Harry, they are good friends and I'm happy you have such good friends. Which I'm sorry to say, after getting to know you and see how hard you can be, it's a wonder you do have so many people that care about you.'

'You don't have to be sorry for that, I know I can be sometimes. But my friends know the reason why I'm like that, they've seen or heard things I've done or had done to me. I have a lot of friends, but only have a few really close friends, like Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna, those five I would do anything for. Seamus is also a close friend that I would help in a heartbeat if he asked, Dean I like a lot, but I always kept a bit of emotional distance from them. Their both great, we shared a dorm room for years, I think it's because I just feel who I know I can completely trust and who might, even without realising it, but might betray that trust. That's a big thing for me, trust and honesty, I need to know that both of you are there or I just can't give myself fully.'

'After hearing things about you and seeing for ourselves how you are, we do understand that. You never have to fear we would betray you in any way. But like I said, you need to learn and get to know us. Only then will you trust us, but the honesty, that is something your mother and I will always do, be honest with you. You actually get that from both of us, we've always been honest with each other and the ones we're closest too. If you don't mind, but I would like to know who you lost, apart from us and Sirius because I can tell that is a reason you are the way you are.'

'Well even though you and mum weren't here, I used to talk to you both a lot as a kid. After one of the times they beat me, I used to sit in my cupboard and talk to you. Sometimes I did ask you to help me, take me away, but mostly just speaking the words to my parents let me get through that shit. Sirius, when I found out the truth about him, I just felt drawn to him. So when I saw him die because of me that was the worst I ever felt. Remus tried to hold me back, but nothing would, I wanted to kill Bellatrix. I did try to use the cruciatus curse on here, but being fifteen, I'd never used it before. Dumbledore said I was in too much pain, I couldn't bring the anger from my very soul to the spell because of the pain I was feeling. After that I pretty much stopped talking, not literally, I mean I stopped myself from getting close to anyone, stopped saying anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. Before Sirius was Cedric, we weren't really friends, but it was my fault he died. We both helped each other through the triwizard, so when we got to the cup, he wanted me to take it, I said together since we both helped each other. If I didn't say that, he'd still be alive today. Then it was Dumbledore, the one I turned to for advice on Voldemort, the one I thought would get me through all this alive, but again, like Sirius and Cedric, I saw it happen, saw him fall from the tower. Mad-eye died because of me, and even though we weren't friends, I did know him and respect him. Hedwig, my owl died the same night as Mad-eye. She'd been my only friend in that house, I would talk to her and it seemed she knew when I needed her, she didn't go hunting. Dobby died in my arms, he was a house elf I set free from Lucius Malfoy, I tricked him into giving Dobby my sock. He always helped me, would do anything for his friend Harry Potter. He died saving us, me, Hermione, Ron, Luna, Dean, Mr. Ollivander, even a goblin. I buried him at Bill Weasley's place, then carved a small headstone for him. Hermione had been tortured by Bellatrix, but she came out while I buried him. Friends died in the fighting, the worst even though that's terrible to say, was Fred. He turned up and said time to fight Harry, I knew he was there for me, like most people. Remus hurt, we were getting close, he was slowly telling me things about you. Tonks, she was great, so funny, clumsy, strange, but one of the best people you could meet. So many deaths, I blame myself for most of them. I'm not arrogant enough to say they were all my fault, I'm not vain. But some were truly my fault, so having blood on my hands, their blood, that will live with me forever.'

James was seeing more on why his son was so hard, so closed off. He put his arm around Harry's shoulder, the two men just stood staring up at the tree covered yard. The older hoping to help his son, the younger hoping he can fully trust his parents. But both knew it was going to take time, time they all had now.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter nineteen

Everything James heard, everything Harry said, made them both very emotional. But when they finally got themselves under control, they went into James' office and watched the memory of the seer telling Dumbledore what would happen if Harry never took responsibility of his power and he kept turning to his family or others that he looked up to so they could help.

'So as you just heard Harry, all of us would have died. Voldemort would have ruled our world and everyone left behind would have suffered.'

'Fine, I can understand why I had to lose everyone, to supposedly accept my power and kill him. But it was not prophesized that it would be me that would win. It just said one of us would kill the other. So all this was a chance that it would be me in the end.'

'Harry,' James sat next to his son, 'I might not know you, but I am starting to. Sirius and Albus told us what you were like, told us a lot of things about you. But since we've been getting to know each other, I see what Albus was talking about. You are very powerful, confident and a wise young man, but you don't see yourself like that. You don't see yourself as powerful, but what you did to the great hall should have shown you then that you have more power than any adult. I could not have done that to a hall wall, I know your mother or Sirius could not have done it either. But something I'm not even sure you realised. You wrecked the wall with no wand in your hand, the power used to do that came from inside you.'

Harry stared at his father as he talked, 'No, I never had my wand, but that's wandless magic, only people like Dumbledore can do wandless magic.'

'See, you're doing it again Harry. You did do wandless magic, we all saw it. That shows how powerful you are, but you're not accepting it. Can you do something for me?'

'I'll see, what do you want me to do?'

'Try something wandless, any spell you can think of.'

Harry put his hand on his sleeve and felt his wand, 'But I had my wand up my sleeve, so maybe I still tapped into that.'

'Then put your wand on the desk, so you're not touching it.'

Harry sighed, but nodded, then took his wand out and placed it on his father's desk before facing him.

'Well, you know my patronus is a stag, like yours, I could try that.'

'Okay, give it a go, find your most happiest memory you can,' James sat and watched as Harry took a couple of deep breathes, then his silver stag leapt forth and ran around the room, 'See, a patronus is one of the hardest spells to do and it is never done wandless. Do you know that even Albus cannot do wandless patronus?'

Harry stared at his patronus until it vanished, 'Alright, I get it, I'm powerful,' Harry sighed, then put his wand back in his sleeve, before looking at his father, 'So you think I should forgive Dumbledore, don't you?'

'Yes I do, but it has to be your decision, not mine, not your mothers, yours. He only did this to protect all of us, including our world, not just you. I was angry with him at first, until I saw those memories of the seer and the prophecy. That's when I realised how important you were to our world, but you had to suffer to let yourself see it. You're mother and I hated the fact that you would have to go through the pain of loss, but we knew it was the only choice if you were going to survive this war, for anyone to survive this war. We gave you up in the hope that we could have a life with you when it was all finished. We also knew it was going to take a long time, you had to grow up a bit first.'

'Okay, I get why you did it, more now than before. I know I would do the same thing if I could make sure you and mum lived, along with everyone else. I know the pain you and mum would have felt, I felt the same after Sirius died,' Harry put his arms around his father and hugged him, 'I'm sorry for blaming you dad.'

'We understand Harry and we did expect it. So what are you going to do about Albus?'

Harry let his father go, 'I'm going to go talk to him, do you want to come with me, just in case he makes me angry again?' Harry asked looking sheepish.

James chuckled, 'Are you saying you need me to come with you son?'

'Alright, don't start,' Harry sighed, 'But yes, I need you to come with me.'

James smirked at his son, 'So do you need me, a bloke or your father?'

Harry rolled his eyes, 'My father okay, now stop, this is all new to me you know.'

'I know, I was just winding you up son. Let's go tell your mother we're heading to Hogwarts, she can let Sirius know when he turns up.' Harry nodded then followed his father out of his office and into the kitchen to see his mother. 'Lily honey, Harry wants to speak with Albus and wants his father with him.'

Lily chuckled when she saw the look on her son's face, 'Okay, I'll see you when you get back, make sure you're back in time for lunch.'

'We will mum,' Harry hugged her, 'I'm sorry for thinking you never wanted me.'

'Don't be sorry Harry, but we wanted you so much, we never wanted to leave you.'

'I know, I love you mum.'

Lily felt her throat close up, she cleared it a couple of times, 'I love you too Harry, now go or I won't let you,' Lily sniffed then moved her arms from around Harry.

Harry and James stepped outside and apparated straight onto the ground of Hogwarts. They spotted some of the staff working on parts of the castle, then James spotted Albus standing near the base of the astronomy tower. James led his son over to the two men, but kept a small bit of distance.

'Um, Dumbledore,' Harry said softly.

Albus Dumbledore turned around with a look of surprise on his face that turned to hope. 'Harry, I'm so pleased you're here.'

'I watched the memory, and I get why you did it. So I wanted to apologise for the way I spoke to you.'

Albus stepped closer to Harry, 'You never have to apologise to me Harry, never, especially not for that. I knew you were going to be angry with me, but I was hoping you would realise why I put you through that. I never wanted to hurt you in anyway.'

'I know, I get that, I understand it all now. But sometimes I wish you would just tell me things, but you always left it for after when I couldn't do anything. You knew what was inside me, but never told me. All that fighting was going on and I had no idea. It was luck that got me to see that memory. I never went into your office to see that memory, because I really didn't care what it showed. So what if I never found out, we all would have kept fighting but he would have lived. That is something I can't understand, do you think I would give up if I knew I had to die so he could die?'

'No, you are not the type to give up, you would have walked up to him with your head held high to give everyone a chance to survive. I underestimated Severus Harry, I should have realised he would not have told you until absolutely necessary. I was hoping he could get passed who you looked like and do the right thing. He might have agreed to help me protect you while you were young, but you still look like James, he just could not get passed that. So do you forgive me for putting you through that Harry? You know I would never deliberately do anything to hurt you, I care too much for you.'

Harry stared at the man that had meant so much to him, then took that last step and hugged him.

'Yes, I do forgive me, but please promise me if you know anything that concerns me, my friends, my family, you will tell me straight away?'

Albus hugged Harry and could feel his own tears falling down his face. When he pulled back, he gently touched Harry's face.

'I promise to tell you everything from now on Harry, no matter what it is or who it is about. But do you accept that you are powerful, something I have been trying to tell you for years?'

'Yeah, dad explained some things to me, then had me do a patronus wandless. Is what he said true, you can't do a wandless patronus?'

'I cannot, you saw me conjure my patronus right after Barty Crouch was killed, I did that with my wand. You are already more powerful than I am and that power will grow over the years. I just need to warn you though, with power comes great responsibility and you need to control that temper of yours.'

'I thought I wouldn't get angry anymore, now that part of him was finally gone. So maybe all those times I got angry weren't just because of Voldemort.'

'It's understandable, you're life has been harder than anyone I know. So it's expected at times things would just get too much for you. That is why friends like Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna are good for you, they balance you out. Sirius, he will treat you differently again, the love you have for him and him for you will keep you calm, but you have to trust him, another thing with Sirius, he will never let you get anything over on him, well, apart from your naked body that is.'

'Dumbledore,' Harry stared in shock but heard his father laugh, 'Did you tell him about Sirius and me?'

'No, your father hasn't spoken to me since you were last here. I know you Harry, I also watched you and Sirius a lot. When this was over, I would have told you that I believe you and Sirius are meant to be. But about what I said, you were too young when Sirius was here before. Now you are an adult, you would not have let anything stop you making love.'

'He really knows you, doesn't he son?' James grinned.

'Yeah, more than I wish he did. Okay, let's just put all this behind us and finally have a normal life now we can. But since we are talking, I want to ask you something?'

'You know you can ask me anything Harry.'

'Mum and dad are throwing a party for me next week, so they can meet all my friends, will you come?'

Albus looked at Harry with surprise and took him a few minutes to find his voice, 'Um, I think you just rendered me speechless Harry, that never happens to me. But yes, of course I will come if you want me to.'

'I do, you meant a lot to me Dumbledore, you still do. I came to think of you as a friend, not as my headmaster, but as my mentor. Why do you think I felt so betrayed, it was you that put all this together, it was you that left me with the Dursleys. But at least I know why, I know it all now, so I still care about you Dumbledore.'

'I am glad you think of me as a friend, because that is what I am and I care for you very much. I will see you at your parent's house next week.'

'Before we go, I need to know a couple of things. In the tomb, it looks like you and feels real, like a person.'

'It was a death eater that tried to impersonate me, so since he was me, I decided to use that. Now you know I would never normally kill someone and that was part of my plan I hadn't worked out. So when I caught him and found out he was being me to get to you, I thought yes, I could do this to protect you. He could be me in death which gave you the chance you needed.

'So you killed him,' Harry shrugged, 'That doesn't worry me, most of them could die and I couldn't care less about them, they deserved everything that is coming to them. I know that sounds heartless, but I think anyone would understand if they knew what my life was. Now, since you are back, does that mean you're headmaster again or is Professor McGonagall still headmistress?'

'She wants me to resume my post, but I have not yet decided. I know Minerva would do a wonderful job as headmistress, but she really prefers teaching. I will let you know when I have made up my mind.'

'If you do come back as headmaster, don't do what you did before. Students used to feel so intimidated when they saw you because you were hardly ever seen. Spend time in the grounds with them, talk to them. Let them know you are real and not just some legendary figure that can't be approached.'

Albus looked from Harry to James who shrugged, 'You are really growing up Harry and as I said before, you are a very wise man. If I did resume my old job, I promise to spend more time with the students. Will you be one of those students Harry, are you going to do your last year?'

'No, I'm way past feeling like a student. I couldn't see myself being so restricted, I like being able to do what I want, when I want and right now, I want to do nothing. Well, get to know my parents and shag Sirius,' Harry chuckled making Albus and James laugh, 'I just want to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet.'

'Yes, that is something you should do. But you know what I do see in you Harry, something in your later years?'

'No, what?'

'I can see you back here teaching and you will do an excellent job,' Albus and James saw the look of shock on Harry's face as his jaw dropped open which made both of them laugh, because they realised Harry still couldn't see himself as talented or as powerful as a teacher. They knew it was going to take a long time for Harry to finally get that through his stubborn mind, that he is powerful and talented and will be a lot more in years to come.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter twenty

'Before we go Dumbledore, I was hoping you would do me a favour?'

'I will try Harry.'

'Apart from wanting to help repair the castle, mainly because I felt guilty over all the damage, I also want to leave this place feeling like I used to feel. Seeing all the destruction and seeing all the people that died has change this place for me now. So I want to confront a couple of areas, I don't want to remember this place just as a place of death and destruction, I want to remember it like my home, like I used to feel about it. So I want to go into the forbidden forest, go to that area. I want both of you to come with me.'

'Of course I'll come with you son, but are you ready to see that?'

'Now that I am finally realising it's all over, yeah, I think it's time.'

'If you want me to come Harry, I will. Do you wish to do that now?'

'Since I'm here, yeah,' Harry gazed towards the forbidden forest, 'I don't know if Aragog's family is back in that area though.'

'Is that where it happened?' Albus asked as he looked towards the forest.

'Yeah, they drove the spiders out and took over that spot.'

'If they are, we should be able to keep them away. All we need is a strong shield charm placed around us and since we have been trying to tell you about your power, you can do that I think Harry.'

'You would trust me to do that?'

'I would trust you with my life, I have before and I always will.'

Harry turned to face his father, 'What about you, do you trust me to keep you safe?'

'Yes, I'm like Albus, I would trust you with my life, so you better not stuff up or you might get to see your mother's temper,' James laughed which made Harry laugh.

'I'm finally seeing why you ended up in so many detentions. Come on, let's get this over with.'

Harry, James and Albus walked towards the forbidden forest. The moment they stepped into the darkness, Harry turned to Dumbledore.

'This is where I used the stone, but it wasn't real, none of it. How did you work it so they would know what to say when I asked them something?'

'Because I know you and knew what you would say. But it was charmed to work on your emotions, the love you had for your parents, Sirius and if anyone else died it would work for them as well. Was it just those three Harry?'

'No, Remus as well, you know he made me godfather to Teddy, I haven't seen him yet, apart from the funeral.'

'You will, everyone needs time, but you more than most. I'm sure Andromeda would understand.'

'Yeah, she does and I did quickly speak to her at the funeral. Anyway, let's keep going,' Harry led the way deeper into the forbidden forest, 'I saw two death eaters here, I had the cloak over me, so when they left, I followed. But that's another thing, there were dementors everywhere, but I never felt them. I figured it was down to mum, dad, Sirius and Remus, that they acted like my patronus.'

'No, it was your power, but because you needed to get past without detection, you made yourself believe it was them, when it was all you. The love you had for them brought forth that power and kept you safe.'

'Okay, I'm getting the power thing, I just don't know if I like it though,' Harry walked off with his father and Albus behind him, then he stopped again, 'I put my wand and cloak away, then moved into the light, it was so dark all around, but here just enough moon light showed through, enough so we could all see each other,' Harry stepped forward, shuddering, 'I was here, he was over there,' Harry pointed, 'Hagrid was tied to the tree behind him, a couple of giants were standing over him, death eaters all around, Bellatrix right beside him, like always,' Harry knelt down and ran his hands over the ground, 'I fell here after he hit me with the curse.'

'Do you feel anything Harry?'

Harry closed his eyes, 'Yes, cold, evil, dark magic,' Harry stared up at Dumbledore, 'Like you, you can feel dark magic.'

'Yes, like me, when you stayed here before, did you feel anything in other areas?'

'Yeah, I kept getting chills no matter where I was. I just figured it was remembering what happened. So I can feel dark magic?'

'Yes, you can, so I think it's wise that you are not coming back. But how do you feel, standing where you died, because you did die, for a few minutes.'

'Fine, it's just a memory now. When he first looked at me, it was like he was trying to figure something out, like I might have been planning something and he didn't know what it was.'

'Well you were when you think of it Harry. You were planning to die so the horcrux inside you could be destroyed. That brought him closer to his death and he never figured it out.'

'True, he never did. It's a wonder he didn't though, he did possess me, you would think he would have felt it or sensed it.'

'He was not inside you long enough and remember, the love you had for everyone caused him pain, so he couldn't concentrate on anything because of that pain you put him through.'

'You sound alright Harry, are you really?'

'Yeah dad, I'm fine, I wasn't sure how I would feel standing here, but I'm okay. Let's get out of here though, those spiders still might come back.'

Harry, James and Albus started walking through the forest, but they all heard something, stopped and pulled their wands.

'We mean you no harm Harry Potter,' said a voice from behind them.

Harry turned, 'Magorian, Bane, how are you?'

'We are well Harry Potter, we just wished to thank you. We saw what you did that night and knew you were not like other humans. It was in the stars that you would overcome the dark wizard.'

'You don't need to thank me, but I would like to ask you how Firenze is?'

'He is healing, we have allowed him back with us and realised why he helped Albus Dumbledore and you. So both of you are welcome in the forest anytime.'

'Thank you and I will say this, that not just me, but a lot of my friends have the upmost respect for you and your traditions and we do not see you as pretty talking horses. We know you are centaurs, wise and powerful creatures, we wish you no harm in any way.'

'We believe you Harry Potter, but again thank you,' the two centaurs turned and ran deeper into the forbidden forest.

'You handled that very well Harry and I have never know Bane or Magorian to thank any human. You sure know how to impress people and creatures alike.'

'I was just saying how I feel Dumbledore.'

'My son is showing his inner wisdom, don't you think Albus?'

'I do James and it's about time. But let's get back to the castle, I'm sure Lily is wondering whether Harry has hexed me or not.'

Harry rolled his eyes at Dumbledore but heard his father laugh and couldn't help laughing with him. They got back to the castle, Harry hugged his old mentor again before apparating away with his father.

Harry and James walked into the house and saw Sirius sitting at the table with Lily. She noticed her son and husband, she stood looking worried, then Sirius did.

'It's all fine, Harry and Dumbledore made up. Harry even invited him to the party.'

'Once I saw the memory I realised he was right and I would have done the same to save everyone.'

'You already did Harry, you died remember,' Sirius smirked.

'Sirius, don't say that,' Lily glared.

'You know what I meant Lil's, don't get your wand in a knot. So where's my kiss Potter?'

Harry shook his head then stepped slowly over to Sirius, then just stood there staring into his eyes before Sirius had him in his arms, kissing hungrily.

'Forget it, the both of you, it's lunch time and you're going to eat,' Lily said before stepping back into the kitchen.

As they were eating, Sirius noticed a change, Harry was more comfortable with James and Lily, which told him they would be okay even if they still needed time. Harry spent more time with his parents, but after dinner, he went home with Sirius.

The moment they stepped into Sirius' bedroom, he turned, 'Undress and lie on the bed.' Harry instantly felt the pull that went straight to his cock, his pulse raced and his body heated up, so he quickly undressed and lay down but kept staring at Sirius who was still dress, 'Put your hands together and hold them out,' the moment Harry did, Sirius tired them together with the sash from his robe, then pulled them back and fasted it to the bed, 'Now I get to do whatever I want and there's nothing you can do.'

'You didn't have to tie me up to do that, I'd do anything you want any time.'

'Yes, but I don't want you to touch me this time lover,' Sirius grinned, 'Open your legs, knees bent.'

Harry felt it deep, the pull again, the fire, but he slowly moved his legs apart, then pulled his knees up. He watched Sirius staring down at him, his eyes moving over every bit, until it landed on his cock which was standing up ready and waiting. The look Sirius was giving made Harry groan and he hadn't even touched me yet. It was hot and Harry felt his whole body heat up, like it could combust at any time. But when Sirius started to use his tongue and teeth, starting from his feet, up the inside of his legs Harry felt like he was falling into the abyss. He groaned again when Sirius moved away from his groin and moved to his stomach. He licked, kissed and gave small nips with his teeth from one hip to the other. Harry's hips bucked and he started to squirm, but Sirius just kept his assault going on his body. He moved up to one nipple, licking, nipping with his teeth, pulling them until they were hard then he'd start on the other one. He sat astride Harry's stomach, then both his hardened nipples were being pulled and twisted by Sirius' strong but soft fingers. Each pull sent a jolt straight to Harry's cock and he could feel himself building. Sirius hadn't even touched him there yet, but Harry knew that he wasn't going to last. He groaned and his hips kept flexing, he squirmed and writhed with each twist of his nipples, then he felt it, he was cuming. Harry couldn't believe Sirius was able to make him cum without touching his cock in any way and he realised just how much experience Sirius had and the last week he'd been taking it easy on him, to get him used to making love. But now he was bringing that expertise out and just thinking that made Harry hotter and the blood pulsed again heading straight down to his groin.

'Sirius please,' Harry begged as his hands pulled at the sash holding his hands tight to the bed.

'Please what Harry?' Sirius moved off him and started his assault on Harry's body again.

'I want to be inside you, please.'

'I haven't finished with you yet my young lover,' Sirius' voice was deep sending jolts of electricity through Harry's body before he finally started to lick and suck again. Harry groaned loudly because every time he thought Sirius was moving towards his groin, he'd change directions. Then Harry saw Sirius with his wand, he flicked it and Harry was flipped over until he was lying on his stomach. Within seconds Sirius was attacking his body again, kissing, licking and nipped different parts. He'd give small bites to eat cheek but never went near his hole which made Harry squirm and groan again. Harry couldn't believe the feelings that Sirius was making him feel, then his knees were pushed up again and his legs opened, but still Sirius never went near him, just kept licking and sucking everywhere else, up the inside of each thigh, around his hips, up his back to his neck, then down the middle of his back. Harry felt himself building again and he knew Sirius was going to keep this assault going until he came again. Over and over Sirius would move down, but always left Harry wanting to have his arse touched, his cock touched and sucked, but Sirius got close but never did what Harry wanted. With each nip of his teeth, the jolt through Harry got him closer and closer until once more Harry would cum to loud groans and he wondered how long Sirius was going to keep this up before they would finally be inside each other. Harry groaned, pulled at the sash and begged, but Sirius just kept up his assault on Harry's young body. Sirius smiled with the pleasure he was giving Harry, he could see it and hear it which went straight through him with the feelings he had for this young man tied to his bed. That's when Sirius realised his feelings for Harry were more than he thought, he loved him and his face split into a huge smile before he finally untied Harry, then slowly made love to him, letting Harry know how he felt, that he was loved, that Sirius loved Harry.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter twenty one

Over the next couple of days, Harry would sometimes watch his mother work on her photos or he would go down and watch his father at the shop. Harry and Sirius would spend every night together, Some nights at Sirius' house, other nights at the Potter house. James and Lily had started to see a change in their son, he would talk openly with them, he would tell them how he felt about them quite often, he seemed to want to hug his parents a lot and they realised he was finally starting to feel part of the family.

After dinner, Harry looked at his parents, 'I want to talk to both of you about something. It's a bit personal and really not my business, but I need to let you know.'

'You can discuss anything with us,' James said.

'Okay, first is that since I'm a gay man I won't have kids. Sirius and I discussed this and yes, maybe in a few years we might adopt, but right now that's not something we want, we want to be together, just us.'

'Which is understandable, after your life it's time to be you, be with Sirius, concentrate on your relationship and not about anything else.'

'Yeah, so only if you both want to that is, I'm good if you did want to have another baby.'

Lily's eyes instantly watered, she clasped James' hand as they stared at each other before looking back at Harry.

'That is something we would like, but not if it would upset you in anyway. We want you to be sure, we don't want you to feel like we're replacing you in anyway.'

'I don't dad, I want to be part of the family in every way, I want siblings, even with the age difference. Sirius has told me a lot about the way you were with me when I was first born. But you did miss out on important things in my life, in your child's life. Walking, saying more than the odd word, hearing your child say they love you, having your child hug you. When I started learning to read, or write, arguing because you'd want me to eat something I didn't,' Harry chuckled making his parents laugh, 'There are so many things you both missed out on. You're young enough to still have kids, to have what you always wanted. And just think, I'm being told I'm powerful, my sister or brother will have the best protection around, I am the saviour, no one would dare hurt them or they would have to face me.'

Sirius burst out laughing, James joined in where Lily pulled her son to his feet and hugged him.

'You will be the best big brother they will have, not just protecting them Harry, I can see it now, the love you will have for them,' Lily released Harry, 'Are you sure, I want you to be positive?'

'I'm very sure, so get with the shagging dad and knock mum up.'

The four adults laughed, then hugged each other before James picked up his wife and carried her upstairs to their bedroom to do just that, to knock up his wife.

'I'm proud of you my love,' Sirius said taking Harry's hand and brushing his lips over his knuckles.

'I want this for them, but I also want it Sirius. I want a brother or sister, I want a normal family and I'm slowly getting that. You and me are our own family, but we're part of this family that is about to get bigger. After everything, I want it all Sirius.'

'And you are going to get it Harry, now why don't we head to bed as well, I've got plans for you my young lover.'

Harry felt it instantly, Sirius' words and his voice sent that familiar jolt of pleasure straight to his groin. The two men still holding hands ran up the stairs and straight into Harry's bedroom, closing the door, then placing silencing charms around the room because they knew that the noises coming from both of them very soon is not something that James and Lily Potter needed to hear.

The days following, Harry couldn't be happier. His relationship with Sirius was wonderful and even though both of them wanted to live together, Harry wanted to spend more time with his parent's, he wanted to live with them for a bit longer. His friends would visit and couldn't believe the change in Harry and told him often. They said their other friends were going to get a shock when they saw Harry at the party in a few days' time.

'Harry, Lily, Sirius and I are going to pay a visit to those people, do you want to come with us?' James asked.

'Oh yes, I have to see this.'

'Then let's head to Little Whinging,' Lily kissed Harry on the cheek and walked outside with her husband, son and his lover where they apparated instantly. The four of them walked arm in arm up Privet Drive and straight to the door of number four.

James smiled at Harry then gave a few loud knocks. The moment the door opened Petunia shrieked at seeing her sister alive.

'We came to speak with you and that bastard of a husband of yours Petunia, so either let us in or all your neighbours are going to hear everything.'

'Lily, but how?'

Lily pushed past her sister as she held James' hand, Harry and Sirius were holding hands and followed them inside. Lily had her wand on Vernon instantly, while James and Sirius had their wands in their hands as well.

'Dad, remember what you promised me, no magic, fists are fine,' Harry said urgently grasping both his mother and father's arms, 'Sirius, please.'

'Fine,' Sirius put his wand in his pocket then swung his fist at Vernon sending him sprawling back into the chair, 'In case you don't know who I am, Sirius Black, once known as a murderer and Harry's godfather.'

'Lily, he lies, whatever he said is a lie, we treated him like we treated Dudley,' Petunia glared at Harry who just smirked then Lily undid her son's shirt and pulled it off.

'That was done by muggle medicine, which means you lot did that to my son. You used to lie as a kid Petunia, Harry has never lied to us. So who do you think I'm going to believe?'

'Harry, what's going on?'

'Hey Dud, my parents and my lover want to pay your parents back for the way they treated me. Naturally your mother is lying again, like always.'

'Mum, you know you and dad hurt Harry, I admit I did, but I was just following the way you two behave. Do Mr. and Mrs. Potter, they deserve anything you want to do to them,' Dudley turned back to Harry, 'I'm glad you're okay Harry, I see Mrs. Figg a lot, she always keeps me updated on how you are.'

'Harry sweetheart, why don't you go with your cousin, catch up, while we do the same,' Lily kissed Harry's cheek then nodded her head towards the door. Harry nodded then pulled his cousin from the room and left his parents and Sirius to their business.

James, Lily, Sirius nor Harry spoke about the Dursleys or what took place. Harry was curious, but he knew now was not the time. One day he would hear what happened in the house, the house that caused him so much pain, but that time was not now.

The day before the party, Harry went with his father to the shop and would watch him with customers, he would explain everything to them about whichever piece of furniture they were interested in. Harry couldn't believe how knowledgeable his father was on every single piece. He couldn't tell one piece of wood from another.

'You know dad, I do like that pensieve cabinet, so if you wouldn't mind holding onto it for me I would love to have it? After using Dumbledore's pensieve so often, I always wanted to own one.'

'It's yours Harry and I'll restore it so it'll be ready for you. I thought I should tell you that I do have to go away in a couple of weeks, looking for more. That's what I do, I go away for a week or so, find old furniture, bring it back and I'll do that a few times a year.'

'Well, I suppose that will give me some more time with mum. But since we've been together, I think I'll miss you.'

'I'll miss you too, maybe one time you could come with me. Sirius does sometimes,' James said.

'He used to go to pick up men, didn't he?'

'Yes, sorry, I didn't want to say that to you. But I can't believe the change in him Harry. He's finally settle down, something your mother and I have wanted him to do for years. He's a lot like you, very independent, maybe that's why you two work.'

'Yeah, maybe it is. You know,' Harry looked around the shop, 'This probably helped you during those years. Mr. Weasley told me that's why he liked his shed, it helped him deal with everything that was going on. His whole family was involved in the war some way. The older ones were all in the order of the phoenix, the younger ones, from George down were all in the DA. You knew I was a major part, so having this, mum having her photos was your way of coping.'

'Yes, it is or was. Even though what we do is what we love, but it did help. I can see that with Arthur Weasley, all his family were in danger, including you. He thinks of you as one of his kids, I saw that myself at Hogwarts.'

Harry noticed his father's tone, 'Yeah they do and I'm grateful they were there for me. But they know just like I do that they weren't my parents. I might still be getting to know you and mum, but you are my parents and I do love you and just because I feel close to the Weasley's doesn't mean they mean more. I always knew having a family would be different, so even though they treated me as family, I knew I wasn't, now I have my family.'

'I know son, I do understand and I'm also grateful to them for being there for you. Like I told you, Albus would tell us things or we'd read things about you, but we never knew everything. It was hard making ourselves not go find everything we could about you, but we understood what Albus was saying. It would have made it a lot harder on us to see and read about your life. But you do seem a lot better lately, so I would like to hear more about you, just small bits to start with. You still need to heal your heart and soul.'

'I am feeling better, but I do get what you mean, I do need time. But I think I can handle telling you and mum some more things. One thing I do want to do, since you own a pensieve, is to show you, mum and Sirius what happened that night. Dumbledore would have told you about it, but I think you might understand why I am a little hard in ways if you saw that. Ginny, Ron and Hermione might show theirs as well. Ginny was right in the middle of the fighting while Hermione and Ron were trying to destroy another horcrux and I was looking for the other one. So three different views of what was going on.'

'It might be hard to watch, but I think we should see it. Albus did tell us some, but he wasn't there, he didn't know everything. It will also give us a glimpse of why you are a little hard in a way, you've told us some things, but to see it for ourselves will make us understand which will also help us help you. It's like what you said about putting your feelings for your friends aside and think about doing the right thing, even knowing they could die and you just had to do what you had to. I don't think I could have done that, not at your age. Now, yeah as an adult you can understand what it takes to end the suffering of people you care about. You were seventeen, still a kid basically, even though you said it, you were never a kid. But all that makes more sense now, the seer, how you needed to be alone, how hard you had to get you through all that and always thinking about what was right. This is also your power Harry, being sensible, doing what is right and not what's easy. Some would have just walked away, left Voldemort to everyone else, especially if he came after them as much as he came after you. You are a very strong young man son and I'm proud of you.'

'A lot of what I did came to doing what was right, but I always wanted to make you and mum proud of me and hoped I would do good and you would know. I said that to Neville at the end of a DA class. I told him we'd make his parents proud, we'd make them all proud, meaning the people we all lost. Out of everything I did, Hermione and Ron did to help me, Neville was the most surprising of all. When he was younger, he was scared of his own shadow, could hardly hold a wand the right way, let everyone push him around. But the moment he heard Bellatrix had escaped, he realised he would need to step up if he was going to survive and he also wanted to do something to make his parents proud. Every lesson after that Neville was one of the fastest with learning whatever spell I taught them, before that Neville couldn't even disarm someone.'

'He sounds like an intriguing young man. I did know his parents, Frank and Alice, it's a shame what was done to them.'

'Yeah it is, and I saw them once. We were all visiting Mr. Weasley in St Mungo's and noticed Neville. Ron, Hermione and Ginny didn't know about his parents at the time.'

'You mentioned that you saw and saved Arthur's life, but I heard you say something about saving Ron, can you tell me about that?'

'I was given these chocolates from this girl, Hermione told me that some of the girls were trying to slip me a love potion. So when I was looking through my trunk for the map, I threw out the chocolates, Ron thought they were his as they landed on his bed. He was really bad,' Harry chuckled, 'So I took him to Slughorn to get him an antidote. After he had it, Ron was so embarrassed, so Slughorn gave us some meade to cheer him up. The moment Ron drank it he collapsed, convulsing on the floor. Slughorn froze, so I went through his stuff and found a bezoar, shove it inside Ron's mouth. We got him to the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey said he was lucky I got the bezoar into him in time.'

'Albus told us you are not the type to panic, you see what needs to be done and do it. Ron's lucky, but why did meade affect him like that?'

'It was poisoned, Slughorn intended to give it to Dumbledore. Draco Malfoy was given the job of killing Dumbledore, so he imperiused Madame Rosmerta, had her poison the meade then gave it to Slughorn who was buying it as a gift for Dumbledore.'

'It's lucky you and old Sluggy never drank it at the same time, the three of you could have died.'

Harry shrugged, 'Yeah, probably.'

James noticed how unconcerned his son sounded and looked at almost dying and since he had been hearing things about Harry, how many times he could have died, he realised that his son thought of death and chances of dying as part of his life. James hoped that would change for Harry, now that Voldemort was gone and most of his death eaters were dead or captured. Then he can have a more normal life, including his thoughts.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter twenty two

It was the day or the party, Harry had asked Kreacher to help his mother with the food, then Harry, Sirius and his father were setting up a heap of tables and chairs all around the back garden, most of them around the pool. They knew since it was summer that the ones Harry's age would probably want to swim. The three men put lamps all around including up in some trees, so even though the party was going to start in the afternoon, they knew it would go late into the night. They set up a bar with different drinks, from butterbeer, juice to all types of alcohol. There was a small stage for the band that Sirius had got to play for the night as well.

Harry would look at his father and Sirius when they kept putting the tables in its place, then the other would move it until it was up in a tree. They kept doing that until his mother finally had a go at them, but Harry thought it was great and he got to see what his father and Sirius had been like as students at Hogwarts and why they got detentions so much.

Sirius went home to shower and change, Harry went to his room to do the same, just like his parents went to theirs to get ready. When they finished James led Harry outside while Lily stayed in the house to greet their guests and show them through to the garden.

Sirius, Harry and James were watching the band set up as the three of them got themselves a drink. Sirius noticed the two girls serving drinks kept smiling at Harry, so he walked over and slipped his arms around Harry's waist.

'Sorry girls, he's all mine, you'll have to find another hero to comfort you at night.'

'Sirius,' Harry chuckled then gave the girls a smile, 'But he's right, I'm gay, his and unavailable,' he looked up into Sirius' eyes before their lips met.

'Oi,' Ron shouted making Harry and Sirius jump apart and Ron laughed, 'Did I scare you?'

'Your friend is an annoying prat Potter.'

'You don't have to tell me that Sirius, I've lived with the git for years.'

'Oh that's nice Harry,' Ron and Hermione hugged him then Sirius.

'Harry,' Molly pulled him into one of her famous rib cracking hugs, 'You look better.'

'I'm fine Mrs. Weasley, great actually. So did Ron tell you about us?' Harry slipped his arm around Sirius.

'Yes, and at first I wondered why your parents let this happen. Then I realised you're an adult Harry and if Sirius is who you want, then you should. We just want you to be happy.'

'I am Mrs. Weasley, extremely happy, Sirius makes me happy,' Harry grinned at him.

'Just like you do for me babe.'

'Dad, mum, meet Arthur and Molly Weasley,' Harry made introductions then watched as they greeted each other.

'It's very nice to meet both of you and I must say James, Harry really does look like you,' Molly said.

'Apart from that, I'm finding out we have a few things in common, with mum as well.'

'Yes, even though we might not have been around as Harry grew up, he did get some of his parents traits.'

'Oi Sirius, I want a word with you mate,' Charlie strolled purposely towards the group, 'You bloody got to Harry before I had a chance.'

The group laughed, 'Sorry Charlie, Harry's mine, you're out of luck. So no more snogging my man.'

'Why is it that I always luck out with the blokes I want?'

'I'm sure you will find your right one sooner or later Charlie.' Molly shook her head.

'Charlie, meet my parents, James and Lily Potter, Charlie Weasley the second eldest of the family,' again Harry made introductions.

'After seeing your parents and Ron, you are very surprising Charlie.'

'Oh, why?'

'Long hair, and is that a dragon's fang in your ear?' Lily asked.

'I work with dragons, it's my other passion, but I seem to be the odd Weasley out, they love me anyway.'

'Even though it is difficult sometimes,' Molly smirked.

'Thanks mum,' Charlie said sarcastically, 'I'm getting a drink and no going off if I have too many, it's time to celebrate that our hero won.'

Harry slapped Charlie's arm, 'Go get pissed Weasley.'

'Good idea Potter,' Charlie grinned then walked away.

'He sometimes still acts like a child. But here are the rest of my family,' Molly smiled then introduced Bill, Fleur, Ginny, Percy, George and Angelina to James and Lily Potter.

Harry spotted his friends arrival, 'Be right back babe,' Harry grinned at Sirius then went over to join his friend and most got surprised when Harry hugged the blokes and kissed the girls on the cheek, 'It's great you all could come.'

'We've been looking forward to this mate, but you just shocked the life out of us,' Seamus said.

'Um, why?' Harry asked looking confused.

'You hugged us, now we're used to you hugging Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna, but not us, then you kissed the girls, again something you don't normally do.'

'Oh, well, things have changed, hang on,' Harry turned, 'Sirius,' he called then when Sirius stepped over, they instantly put their arms around each other before giving each other a hot and hungry kiss, 'Sirius and I are together, since then, I just seem to want to hug everyone, he makes me happy.'

'Okay, well, we knew you were gay, but wasn't expecting this. Hey, if this is how you are now and it's because of him, then go for it,' Neville grinned before putting his hand out to shake Sirius, 'Neville Longbottom.'

'Sirius Black, I knew your parent's, you are very much like your mother, sweet woman.'

'Thanks, but I think Harry wants to introduce the rest of his friends to the man that captured his heart.'

'Oh very romantic Neville,' Luna smiled.

Harry laughed then introduce all his friends to Sirius, before calling his parents over to join them so they could finally meet all his friends.

'Blimey you are like your dad Harry, if he was younger it could be you apart from your eyes,' Dean said.

'Yes, my son takes after me, but he does have a bit of both of us in his personality.'

'Harry told us about the DA, were all of you members?' Lily asked sweetly.

'Yep, Hermione's idea to have Harry teach them, but when she mentioned it to us, we jumped at the chance. We knew how good Harry was and he taught us things we really wasn't ready for, but sure came in handy,' Seamus said grinning at Harry.

'Hello everyone,' Albus Dumbledore smiled at the group and got smiles and hello's back, 'I hope you don't mind, but I need a word with Harry.'

'I'll be back,' Harry kissed Sirius then followed Dumbledore to a quiet spot near the house, 'I'm glad you could come.'

'I'm glad I did as well Harry, but even though it's only been a week, you seem very content. Your face has taken on a very peaceful look now, I have never seen that look on you before.'

'I feel good and I think it's finally sinking in that his gone and won't be coming after me anymore. I have my parents back, Sirius and I are together and even though we're still getting to know each other, I finally forgave them and knew I would have done the same thing. I watched that memory again, I can really see how hard that would have been for you to do that to me, but I get it now Dumbledore.'

'Harry, please call me Albus, we're friends, I am no longer your professor and you are not my student.'

Harry laughed, 'Albus, I suppose I should get used to being an adult now. But what I was saying, the seer about how our world would be, I would never let that happen, just like you did all you could to stop it happening.'

'Yes I would, but I am glad you finally understand how important all that was. I never wanted to hurt you in any way, but I had no choice.'

'I know and I'm finally accepting the truth about my power. All week I've been doing just simple spells, but not once have I used my wand. I seem to be able to read people really well, I just have to look at them and I can tell if their being completely honest, evasive or lying outright. That will be good if I decide to become an auror.'

'Yes, very handy and not a skill that many people have, I have always been able to read people as well. Do you think you will still want to be an auror Harry?'

'Maybe, if I do, it won't be for a while. I'm enjoying doing nothing, relaxing for the first time in years and of course getting to know my parents. I sometimes get a little bored and would like to do something, but not full on yet.'

'Then what I wish to speak with you about might be something you will consider. I was talking with Kingsley and as you know there are still untrustworthy people in the ministry. So we thought of keeping the order of the phoenix going, but both of us would like you to take charge of that. He has no time, being minister and I have decided to resume my post as headmaster. We will help with anything you need if you wish to do it. Grimmauld place could still be used as headquarters, also a new fidelius charm can be placed around it and it could also be used as a safe house if needed.'

'You started the order of the phoenix Albus, it wouldn't be the same without you running it.'

'I still want to be involved, but I think it needs someone younger, but also powerful enough to be able to handle the responsibility that comes with running it. Gathering information, having other members go out on assignments, it could be dangerous and you can always do that yourself. You need to delegate who does what, who you allow to join. They need to be trustworthy, honest and of course know how to take care of themselves. People respect you Harry, you have always been honest and if you can't, you will tell them you can't explain, but you never lie. So I'll give you time to think about it, why don't you got back to your friends and Sirius?'

'You really think I could do it, I'm not talking about my power, I'm talking about my temperament. You've seen how angry I can get and this takes someone that can stay calm and not panic or angry.'

'Yes, I have seen your anger, but those times were different. You have a very natural calmness about you, when it's needed, you can also look very dangerous when it's needed. Ron and Hermione explained to me how you never panicked when you needed to help Hermione. Neville told me how you told him the snake had to die and I know why you did it. You brought the strength you needed no matter how much you might have been scared for your friends. You are wise and caring, so I think you can do this. It might not be for long, until the ministry is full of trustworthy people again.'

'Well, it is something I could do without getting full on into anything. I know there are a lot of people in the ministry I wouldn't trust to tie my shoes and that will take a long time to get them out,' Harry gazed around at his family and friends before he turned back to Dumbledore, 'Okay, if you are positive you want me to do this, then I will and I'm actually honoured that you asked me to take over for you.'

'I'm please you want to do it and you will do an excellent job.'

'So apart from the people that were in the order before, I know of a few good ones that would love to be part of it and they are very trustworthy.'

'I'm sure you know a lot of people that could help, even if it's only occasionally. So if you want to come see me at Hogwarts, I can give you a run down on everything so you can officially take over as the leader of the order of the phoenix, even though from this moment on, it is you that people will need to speak with. Kingsley will probably need to speak with you as well.'

'I'll be there, but I want you to do a favour for me Albus. I invited your brother tonight, he just arrived, you two should talk, he's a good bloke,' Harry hugged Albus then walked back to Sirius and his friends who were all still talking.

'I saw the surprise look on your face Harry, what did Dumbledore ask of you this time?' Sirius raised his eyebrows.

'Something very surprising, but I'm going to do it and I think it's something I will be great at and I'm looking forward to it.'

'Well, are you going to tell us Harry?' Hermione asked looking frustrated, but then all eyes turned to James and Lily who had started dancing rock and roll around the garden.

'Tell you soon,' Harry took Sirius hand and they started to dance alongside Harry's parents to shocked and surprised looks from everyone, especially Harry's friend who had no idea he could dance. When the song changed, everyone had to look away from Harry and Sirius, some of their moves should be best kept to the privacy of their bedroom.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter twenty three

As everyone gazed at Sirius and Harry dancing alongside James and Lily, they couldn't believe the look on Harry's face. He was happy, laughing, sometimes so loud he could be heard over the music. None of Harry's friends had ever seen him like that before and realised it was having his parents and Sirius back, he had finally found an inner peace. As they kept watching, talking about the change in their friend, a blond man stepped outside the doors making Harry instantly stop dancing and tense before a shield charm covered everyone. Harry walked slowly over, then stood in front of his old enemy.

'What the hell are you doing here Malfoy?' Harry glared as everyone came to stand behind Harry.

'Don't get your wand in a knot Potter, I came to see Dumbledore and the minister, I knew they'd be here.'

'Before you say anything else, take out your mother's wand and drop it on the ground.'

'I'm not here to hurt anyone Potter.'

'Do it,' Harry said calmly but the look on his face showed Malfoy he was serious.

'Fine,' Malfoy carefully took his wand out of his sleeve and dropped it on the ground, 'I still wish I had my old one though.'

'It found a great new owner Malfoy,' Harry smirked then turned slightly, 'didn't it Hagrid?'

'Sure did Harry,' the half giant pulled his wand and twirled it between his fingers.

Malfoy scowled at Harry, 'Look, I'm not here to cause trouble, but I need Dumbledore's help, the order of his, we need protection.'

Albus stepped beside Harry, 'The order of the phoenix is now under Harry's control. If you need protection Draco, then you have to speak with him.'

'Yeah, and I'm going to protect this idiot, not bloody likely.'

Draco Malfoy chewed his lip, 'Look, this is serious, those death eaters know I lied to Bellatrix, they also know my mother lied for you. We need protection because they keep trying to kill us.'

'You're mother lied for you, not me, is that what she told you, that she lied to Voldemort for me?' Harry saw Draco give a small nod, 'Well she asked if you were alive in the castle, the moment I told her you were, then she lied to Voldemort and said I was dead. It was for you, which I can't really blame her, she wanted to find her son, no matter how much of a prat he is.'

'Fine, so she lied for me, but it still gave you a chance and I never told Bellatrix it was you even though I knew it was, so…' Draco hesitated, 'I hate this, but I need your help.'

'Neville,' Harry jerked his head at Neville who instantly kept this wand pointed at Malfoy.

'I've got him Harry,' Neville said but never moved his eyes from Malfoy.

Harry stepped away with Dumbledore and Kingsley, 'He's telling the truth, but I still don't trust he won't turn on us to suit him. I know he never wanted to hurt Katie or kill you Albus. He is the type that will switch sides if that suits him.'

'Yes, that is true Harry, but he did lower his wand that night and he did not tell them it was you which should tell you that he really didn't want to be part of that.'

'We've heard the death eaters are after the Malfoy's because of what Narcissa said to Voldemort. But this is your call as the new head or the order Harry,' Kingsley said.

'I just decide to do this and I get this to start with, fine,' the three men turned back and joined the ground, 'So you and your mother need protection?'

'And my father.'

'Forget it, he deserves to be given to the dementors. So this is your option, the order will protect you and your mother if your father turns himself into the minister and goes to Azkaban where he belongs. If you don't agree to that, then leave right now, I have nothing else to say.'

'My father could get killed in there Potter.'

'It's what he deserves Malfoy. Do you know he was going to use the killing curse on me when I was twelve? It was only thanks to Dobby that I'm alive. He used the cruciatus curse and killing curse that night at the department of mysteries. I saw him use the imperius curse on good people and made them hurt and kill others. If you don't agree to this, I will find him and I'll give him to the dementors. If he turns himself over to Kingsley, at least he will have his life and soul, you're choice.'

Everyone was silent as they watched Malfoy glare at Harry who stood calmly waiting.

Malfoy turned to Dumbledore, 'Can't you do something Dumbledore?'

'It's not my call Draco, it's Harry's decision and if I was you and you really want protection, then I would take his offer.'

Malfoy glared at Harry again then nodded, 'I don't have a choice, do I Potter. But what if my father won't do it?'

'Tell him he either gives himself up or the three of you fend for yourselves until we track him down that is, and also tell him what I will do if I find him. So where are your parents right now?'

'I'm not going to tell you that until I talk to my father. But I think it's safe there.'

'How did you know that this party was going on tonight and that Albus and Kingsley would be here?'

'I've been watching this place hoping to see Dumbledore.'

'Tell you what, I'll give you thirty minutes, because I know where your parents are hiding right now, not a bad place to hide either. The death eaters wouldn't think to look there and I do know your mother visited him at his home.'

'Where are they Harry?' Kingsley asked looking surprised.

Harry turned to face Sirius and his father, 'You're old enemies home,' he turned back and smirked at Malfoy, 'It's not far from here either.'

'No, it's not son,' James stared at Malfoy.

'Father won't do it, I know he won't. He doesn't care what happens to me or my mother.'

'I know you have your mother's wand, does your father have a wand on him?'

'No, he was disarmed that night, before he made us leave.'

'Well, I really was enjoying my party, but looks like work called. So if some of us come with you now, we'll put you and your mother in a safe house, but you father goes with the minister, agreed?'

'Yes, just keep my mother safe.'

'We will, Kreacher,' the elf appeared before Harry, 'Can you go to Grimmauld Place, give the top two rooms a clean, new linen on the bed and stock it with food please,' Harry waved his hand and his pouched landed in it a few seconds later, then he gave Kreacher a heap of gold.

'Yes master Harry, but what about the enchantments that auror Moody placed inside?'

'I'll get rid of them as soon as I get there Kreacher.'

'As you wish master,' the old elf disappeared.

'Who's going to come to Spinners end with me?' Harry looked around and they all nodded making Harry smile, 'You don't all need to come, so what about Ron, Hermione, Neville, Kingsley, and dad, the rest enjoy the party because I will be back.'

'You're not going without me love,' Sirius slipped his arm around Harry's waist.

Harry grinned, 'Alright, you can come Sirius, but this time you follow my lead, nothing reckless.

Sirius growled making James laugh, 'My son has spoken Padfoot, I wouldn't get on his wrong side, you might not get any more sex.'

'Fine, but you know what's going to happen later don't you Harry?' Sirius glared.

Harry laughed, 'I know, but it's worth it.'

'What about me Harry?' Ginny glared.

'You're going to have fun without me mate?' George asked.

'Ginny you're mum would murder me and George, blimey,' Harry rolled his eyes before stepping over to molly Weasley, 'George and Ginny are DA members, they can look after themselves, but I give my word that both will be safe, but also and even though I'm going to get hex, I'll protect Ginny with my life.'

'Oh bat bogeys are coming Harry,' Charlie chuckled.

Molly hugged Harry tightly, 'I know you will keep my family safe, just keep everyone safe.'

'You know I will,' Harry smiled then turned back, 'But you don't go off alone Ginny, same as Sirius, nothing reckless or I will be more than hexed, your mother will burst my ears and I'll be deaf. Okay, the rest of yourselves enjoy, we'll be back.'

Lily walked over to Harry and hugged him, 'Please be careful Harry.'

'I'm always careful mum.'

'I love you,' Lily let Harry go.

'I love you to, but we'll be fine, stay with Albus and Aberforth.'

'Can we go or are you going to get soppy with the rest of this lot?' Malfoy snapped.

'Shut it ferret, you're lucky I'm doing this at all.'

'Ferret, oh you told us what Mad-eye did,' James laughed.

'I'd never see Harry laugh so much, I really didn't want to spoil his fun, but I had to turn Mr. Malfoy back,' Minerva smiled.

Harry laughed, 'Okay, let's go,' Harry flicked his hand and Malfoy's wand flew up into it, 'You can have this back after we get to the safe house.'

'So you will give it back, because I'm the one that's been protecting them?'

'You can have it back, just not yet, so let's go Malfoy,' Harry gave everyone left a smiled before the group left with Malfoy.

'He is definitely up for this job Albus, you were right,' Minerva shook her head as she watched the group leave.

'Yes, I knew he would rise to the occasion, but I wasn't expecting it to start tonight.'

'They will be safe, won't they Albus?' Lily asked looking worried.

'They will be perfectly safe Lily, you do not need to worry about any of them. So let's do what Harry suggested and enjoy the party until they get back. Hagrid, did Harry really give you Draco's wand?'

'He never told me who owned it, just gave it to me.'

Seamus and Dean walked over to their professors, 'Um Professor Dumbledore.'

'Mr. Finnegan, can I help you with something?'

'Yeah, so is Harry really in charge of the order of the phoenix?'

'Yes he is, are you considering being a part of that?'

'We both would, after helping the students when the Carrows tortured them, we realised how good it felt to help and we want to keep doing that.'

'I believe Harry could use good people like you and Mr. Thomas. Just remember though, there are still death eaters out there and you might need to go out trying to find them or at least information on them.'

'We want to stop them getting more people, so this is something we can do.'

'Then speak with Harry when he gets back, but I think you will both do excellent work for the new order of the phoenix, just like you did saving those children at Hogwarts.'

'Thanks Professor,' Dean smiled then walked off with Seamus, 'Do you think Harry will let us join?'

'I think he will, he knows he can trust us and we've been friends for years. At least you've got a wand now, so that will help.'

Dean pulled his new wand, twirled it between his fingers, before putting it away again. Then the friends sat down to enjoy themselves until their new leader turned up. But some of their other friends also sat discussing the order of the phoenix and hoped Harry would let them joined as well.

Albus stood with Aberforth, Lily and Minerva, all of them were watching the members of the DA talking seriously.

'I think the new order of the phoenix is off to a good start Albus,' Aberforth nodded towards the younger people.

'I believe you are right dear brother. It was time for the order of the phoenix to have younger blood. They will see things our old eyes could miss. So I think it's safe to say our world which is on it's way to being safe is about to get a whole lot safer.'


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter twenty four

Harry, Sirius, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, George, James, Kingsley and Draco Malfoy were all standing in a small lane not far from Severus Snape's home.

'You go in Malfoy, try and get your mother away from your father in case he tries anything. I'll give you five minutes, then we come in.'

'Just keep my mother safe Potter, that's all I'm asking.'

'She'll be safe as long as you were honest and he doesn't have a wand on him.'

'He doesn't,' Malfoy took a deep breath, nodded then stepped around the corner and entered the house.

'Do you think he is telling the truth Harry?' Neville asked.

'He is, but he's still nervous about what he's father will do,' Harry held up a hand to quiet everyone, 'He's telling them that Dumbledore and the order will keep them safe,' Harry closed his eyes in concentration, 'Draco and his mother have moved to the front of the room, Lucius is at the back pacing.'

'I don't want to know Harry,' Ron shook his head.

'Wands ready,' Harry led the ground around the corner, gave everyone a nod, then waved his hand at the door and it busted. Within seconds Lucius was holding his wife by her throat, 'If you want to die Malfoy, keep going, if you want to live, let her go?'

'See what you've done to our son, made him week so he goes to our enemy.'

'Father, don't hurt mother, let her go.'

'I'm going to say this once Lucius, either let her go and step over to the minister or if I make you let her go I give you to the dementors, you have thirty seconds to decide,' Harry leant closer to Ron, George and Neville, 'Surround Draco,' he whispered and the three nodded then moved over to Draco Malfoy and surrounded him while Harry took a step closer, 'Ten seconds then you are going to lose your soul,' Harry took another step as he stared at Malfoy, saw the look in his eyes and waved his hand, Lucius Malfoy was lifted into the air away from his wife. James, Hermione and Ginny instantly went to Narcissa's aide pulling her to the other side of the room away from her husband, while Sirius stood right next to Harry, 'Well Kingsley, he's all yours.'

'Do you want me to take him straight to Azkaban or does he pay a visit to the dementors?' Kingsley asked as he bound Lucius Malfoy.

'Look Potter, we might not like each other and I don't like my father very much either, but don't do that, send him to Azkaban,' Draco stared over at his father looking defeated.

'If I wasn't in such a good mood, I wouldn't care what happened to you Lucius, but your son and wife did aide me, I owe them, so thank them for your soul,' Harry shook his head, 'Dad, help Kingsley with Lucius.'

'You've got it son,' James and Kingsley each took hold of Lucius Malfoy's arms.

'Do you need anyone else Kingsley, you could have Sirius to help you?'

'I think we can handle this one Harry, plus I don't think Sirius wants you out of his sight. You take the others to the safe house, we'll meet you back at your party.'

'Okay, stay safe you two,' Harry hugged his father, 'You better, I do not want to get on mum's bad side.'

James chuckled, 'No you don't, so I'll be fine Harry, see you back home,' James, and Kingsley left with Lucius Malfoy before Harry turned to Narcissa.

'Are you okay Mrs. Malfoy, do you need a healer?'

'I'm fine, thank you, I thought he was going to kill me.'

'He was, I could read it, it was going to be punishment for Draco. So Ginny, you take Mrs. Malfoy, Ron, you take Draco and we'll apparate straight to Grimmauld Place, now I have to check it before we go in too far. Yaksley might have left something there, but I'm sure Kreacher got rid of any traps or dark spells he might have set up. So let's go,' Harry led the way out of the house, 'Hermione, Neville, George, you go now, we'll follow in a couple of seconds,' they nodded to Harry then apparated away, 'Okay, Ginny, Ron, go,' Harry waited with Sirius for a couple of seconds then they both turned on the spot apparating away. They arrived outside number 12 Grimmauld Place, 'Sirius, Neville and I will check the place, you lot stay just inside the doors until we know it's safe,' Harry wave his hand and some parchment flew into it, 'Read that,' Harry handed the parchment to Draco who read it before handing it to his mother, 'Let's go,' Harry looked around making sure all was clear then followed the group inside.

Harry, Sirius, Neville, Hermione, George, Ron, Draco, Ginny and Narcissa all headed inside number 12, Harry held up his hand to the others then moved slowly forward with Sirius and Neville, casting revealing charms all over the entrance way, then the dusty figure of Albus Dumbledore rose from the floor, Harry waved his hand at it, vanishing it, then he quickly waved his hand again, before the three of them disappeared into different rooms off the entrance way until they made their way into the kitchen. They saw Kreacher stocking the pantry, he nodded then went back to what he was doing.

'Take them into the kitchen while we quickly check the other parts of the house.'

'We've got it Harry, just be careful,' Ron led everyone down the hall and into the kitchen, 'Kreacher could you make the Malfoy's some tea please?'

'Yes Mr. Ron,' Kreacher went about making tea while everyone else sat down waiting for Harry, Sirius and Neville to return.

'So you three stayed here after Bill's wedding?' Ginny asked looking around the large kitchen.

'Yep, right before we broke into the ministry,' Ron said.

'How did Yaksley get in then, it had the fidelius charm around it?' George asked.

'When we were escaping the ministry, Yaksley grabbed hold of Hermione. We used to apparate straight onto the top step, inside the charm. So he saw the door, thought we'd arrive and loosened his hold on Hermione, she apparated us straight out.'

'Well after Dumbledore, McGonagall was secret keeper, I wonder who Harry will make secret keeper this time?' George said.

'We were just discussing that and even though this is Sirius' old home, he doesn't want to,' Harry and his two companions stepped into the kitchen, 'Now most of the death eaters know or knew I owned this place, since Sirius is back, it's his again, so it shouldn't be us, nor Hermione or Ron, they know we're close. I won't use my parents, there out, McGonagall and Kingsley are too busy in case we need to give someone permission to get in.'

'Why not Neville then Harry?' Hermione asked.

Harry turned to his friend, 'Up to you Neville, you want to be secret keeper for the order of the phoenix, think carefully, it's dangerous to take that on.'

'I'll do it Harry, I think I can handle a bit of danger.'

'Why don't we have two then? I don't like to say this, but if one dies, at least the other can keep this place safe,' Ginny suggested.

'Not a bad idea red,' Harry smirked at her, 'Until I ask the others if they want to join, we'll make it Neville for now, then I'll work on the other. I will not put it on anyone in your family though Ron, I think you're mum would kill me if I did that.'

'She's a member Harry, she knows the risk.'

'I know, but after Fred, she's got to be a bit more protective of you lot. Anyway, wait here and Neville and I will go do the charm,' Harry kissed Sirius then followed Neville out.

'I thought he was waiting for Kingsley to do the charm, I didn't think Harry knew how to do it,' Hermione said.

'Dumbledore kept going on about Harry's power, he has finally accepted it. I've been watching him over the last week, he's amazing, he really is, not just with charms and spells, very inventive,' Sirius smirked.

'We don't want to know what you and Harry get up to in the bedroom Sirius,' Ron said his ears going red.

'Oh but Harry is just so,' Sirius gave a low growl, 'He's powerful, but in the bedroom, I like to tie him to the bed.'

'Sirius,' Hermione choked, 'We really don't want to know that.'

'Oh, I've got a picture in my head of Harry sprawled naked tied to a bed, thanks Sirius.' George grimaced.

'What's my man saying now,' Harry said stepped into the kitchen with Neville.

'He said he ties you to the bed, now I've got a picture of that stuck in my head,' George said.

'He likes to take charge, don't you babe,' Harry grinned, 'Anyway, charm's done, Neville found a couple more dark spells.'

'Yep, their gone now, they weren't very powerful though. I figured Voldemort would have taught his death eaters better than that.'

Harry chuckled, 'I think half of them were just as stupid as he was Neville. No one gets in without Neville's permission until we get a second person,' Harry stepped over to Narcissa, 'Stay inside and you'll be safe, we'll keep you updated on the captures. This place is large, there's also a small yard outside but inside the charm, if you want to use it that is. It might be a little dark, but it's safe. Oh and try to move quietly past the large covered wall leading down here, Mrs. Black is behind it and she will scream the place down if she's woken.'

'Thank you Harry, I just want to keep my son safe.'

'It's fine, just don't go outside the charm, if you need anything Kreacher will let me know and I'll work it out,' Harry stepped over to Kreacher, 'I'll check back in tomorrow Kreacher, did you get everything?'

'Yes master Harry, the pantry is stocked with food, it will last for a while.'

'Okay, thanks,' Harry turned back, 'We might as well head back to the party, mum and dad did throw it for me and I'm not there.'

'I'm sure Dumbledore is keeping everyone entertained Harry,' Ginny grinned.

'Yeah, he might be unless him and Aberforth go at it again, those brothers just can't seem to get on. If they keep fighting I'm going to hex the both of them. Okay, so Draco, Narcissa, make yourself at home, I'll check back tomorrow, then one of the order will keep checking and updating you from time to time. If you need anything, let whoever it is know?'

'Thanks Potter, but about the wand?'

Harry slid the wand from his sleeve, 'You're not going out there, are you?'

'No, but I still want to make sure my mother is safe and I need a wand for that.'

Harry turned, 'I don't think he trusts our charm,' Harry smirked as the others chuckled before facing Malfoy again then handing him the wand, 'You're safe, if you stay inside the charm.'

'We will, thank you for all your help,' Narcissa gave Harry a small smile and nod.

'Even though it was for your son, you did lie, which gave me extra time, so you're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow,' Harry led the others out of the house, 'As soon as we get back Neville, I'll have to get you to give all the order permission to get in.'

'No worries Harry,' Neville grinned then the group apparated away and back to the Potter's home.

'So, how did it go Harry?' Albus asked the moment he spotted the group.

'Good, Lucius tried to kill his wife with his bare hands, didn't work though. Kingsley and dad took him away, we just left Draco and Narcissa at the house and Neville is the new secret keeper. Ginny had a thought about having two, we don't want to think about anything happening to anyone, but it does make sense.'

'Yes it does and I think you would realise that more than most. Do you have someone in mind?'

'Anyone but a Weasley, I don't want to worry Mrs. Weasley. I don't want it to be my parents, it can't be Hermione either, Sirius doesn't want to.'

'If I can make a suggestions, some of your friends have expressed interest in being part of the order of the phoenix, maybe one of those can be the other secret keeper.'

'Not a bad idea Albus,' Harry turned to stare over at the table, 'They are all trustworthy, but I think I'll talk it over with Neville, since they might have to work together,' Harry turned back, 'Thanks Albus, I'm actually looking forward to running the order.'

'And you will do an excellent job, now why don't you go back and enjoy your party.'

'Good idea,' Harry stepped over to Sirius and slipped his arms around him, 'Are you staying here tonight, or are we going back to your place?'

'My place, I have plans for you my love, wicked, naughty plans.'

Harry felt the familiar jolt go through him when Sirius used that low sensual voice then they were snogging, hot, wet and very intense.

Everyone was watching Harry and Sirius, when the kiss finished, the two men just stood staring at each other, but it was the contented look on Harry's face that made everyone smile. After everything he went through, they could see he was healing, just like the magical world was healing. Healing from the pain and suffering that was brought on by Voldemort. Tonight the guests of the Potters all knew their world was finally a safe place to live again.

The end:


End file.
